Everyone wants a slice of the battle royale pie it seems but, interestingly, H1Z1 (one of the originators of the genre) has pulled itself back in the game with some staggering numbers after going free-to-play on PS4. Despite only launching as a beta earlier in the week, Daybreak Game Company’s zombie title has gone from strength to strength. 1.5 million players turned up on the first day and now that number is nearing 5 million players, which is quite incredible for a game that seemed DOA little over a year ago.
In terms of pure numbers, H1Z1 has gone from 1.5 million players on day one to 4.5 million players 48 hours later. That’s an increase of 200%, which shows that not only he player base wants to stick around for a proper PUBG-style battle royale experience on PlayStation 4, but also word-of-mouth is helping drive those numbers up considerably.
[PS4 Open Beta] A huge THANK YOU to the 1,500,000+ of you who have joined us in The Arena since the #H1Z1 Open Beta launch on #PS4 yesterday! We’re continuing to work to resolve login and purchase issues, and are committed to bringing you a pure battle royale experience. pic.twitter.com/kj9tP5BaLt
— H1Z1 (@H1Z1) 24 May 2018
[PS4 Open Beta] As a THANK YOU to all 4.5 million+ of you who have joined us since Open Beta launch, we’ve dropped the Blue Barbed Hellfire 4-6 right into your inventory!
PLUS, Duos is now unlocked with a brand new patch – see the latest fixes here: https://t.co/ZC3AuC94uU pic.twitter.com/G3iLFmX1AZ
— H1Z1 (@H1Z1) 26 May 2018
Where does it go from here? As Sea of Thieves will know, it matters little how well your game is doing in week one if it sinks without a trace after the first month. H1Z1 is on the right track, however: updates are frequent, with the H1Z1 1.14 patch introducing the party-friendly Duos mode into the mix and, with the absence of PUBG and it being the bleaker, moodier antithesis to the cutesy Fortnite, it appears that H1Z1 won’t be consigned to a cold, hard grave for quite some time.
