H1Z1: From Zombies To Battle Royale

H1Z1: From Zombies To Battle Royale




As the popularity of the Arma modding scene grew to include the City Life RPG and Invasion 1944 mods, the core games also saw increased success--with many players purchasing the game just so they could experience the community creations. Upon the release of Arma 3, PlayerUnknown--real name Brendan Greene--put out another mod that advanced his concept further, known as PlayerUnknown's Battle Royale. Soon after, he was approached by Sony Online Entertainment to work on a new title that would eventually become H1Z1. As a response to the massive success of DayZ, the developers created their own open-world zombie shooter focusing on survival against the odds. However, the developers wanted to include an official battle royale mode of Greene's design to complement the core game. Known as King of the Kill, 100 players would compete against each other to reach the top spot. The studio not only believed it would boost its player base, but also saw it as a potential esports hit.

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Unfortunately, several setbacks kept the game in early access longer than expected. In 2015, Sony sold off the Sony Online Entertainment studio, which had both H1Z1 and a new EverQuest MMO in active development. While the MMO would later be shelved, the studio--rebranded as DayBreak Game Company--continued work on its online shooter. After a year of work as an independent studio, the developers split H1Z1 into two distinct modes, Just Survive and King of the Kill, which came in response to growing players trends in-game. While the original survival game with zombies--now known as H1Z1: Just Survive--had a following, the battle royale mode became more popular, prompting a pivot from the developers. These changes, along with other adjustments to the base game, resulted in some creative differences with Brendan Greene and the team, and the modder-turned-developer decided to part ways with DayBreak.

Today, H1Z1 still has an active community, even setting up several esports events for the top players to compete for cash prizes. Now out of early access and in open-beta on PS4, H1Z1 has been showing steady growth over the years, even featuring a number of experimental modes like Auto-Royale--a vehicle focused free-for-all--that switch up traditional gameplay. However, Brendan Greene's departure from DayBreak ended up paving the way for a game-changer in the battle royale sub-genre.