The free battle royale shooter H1Z1 is experiencing a hot spring on PlayStation 4: 4.5 million players wanted to check it out in the first week. What about a release of H1Z1 on Xbox One?
H1Z1 hot on PS4: H1Z1 started its open beta on PS4 on May 22. Within 24 hours, it amassed 1.5 million players. On the night from Friday to Saturday, the developer Daybreak announced: “We have 4.5 million players in the H1Z1 open beta since launch.”
Considerable success: This is already a significant success for H1Z1 on PS4. A game that just a few weeks ago hardly anyone gave a chance. We have dealt with the history of H1Z1 here:
Is H1Z1 also coming for Xbox One?
H1Z1 should not be expected on Xbox One for now: Daybreak states that they have an eye on a release on Xbox One, but currently the focus is on PlayStation 4. Only when this version is out and they feel comfortable with its state, do they want to check the option of coming to new platforms.
What does that mean? This likely means that nothing is planned in the foreseeable future. The same statement was made for PUBG and Black Desert for PS4 around E3 2017. And after that, there was no news for a year about a PS4 port of either game.
Is an official release for PS4 planned? It is also unclear when or if H1Z1 will officially be released on PlayStation 4. The open beta seems to be a soft launch that will not follow with a wipe. H1Z1 is free-to-play – an official release would probably just be a formality, without any significant changes.
H1Z1 – the anti-PUBG
Handled exactly the opposite to PUBG: H1Z1 has taken the exact opposite route on consoles compared to PUBG. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is already on Xbox One, but not yet on PlayStation 4. A deal with Microsoft likely prevents PUBG from coming to PlayStation 4 anytime soon. This gap seems to have been utilized by H1Z1, which is now reaping the rewards: 4.5 million players in just under a week – that is an achievement.
Alternative to H1Z1 on Xbox One? For Xbox One players, the alternative to H1Z1 remains PUBG or the also free-to-play Fortnite: Battle Royale.
