H1Z1 and PlanetSide 2 developers Daybreak Game Company went through another round of layoffs yesterday, though the number of employees affected is unknown. This is the third wave since the beginning of 2018.
H1Z1
6 months ago
2 years ago
Daybreak Game Company have announced that Just Survive, the game that was originally H1Z1's survival sandbox, will be shut down soon. They've already delisted the game from Steam, so no one new can buy it, but current owners can play until the servers close in October. H1Z1 will continue in its current battle royale form (previously called H1Z1: King of the Kill), after the two…
We've just passed the half-way point of 2018, so Ian Gatekeeper and all his fabulously wealthy chums over at Valve have revealed which hundred games have sold best on Steam over the past six months. It's a list dominated by pre-2018 names, to be frank, a great many of which you'll be expected, but there are a few surprises in there. 2018 releases Jurassic World…
H1Z1 continues to grow into its own as a bizarre group gaming experiment. The title, which split into two different games in 2016, has continue to split into even more sub-games this year. The current Battle Royale game mode has bolstered by Auto Royale, which allows single, duo, or quad teams to go Full Mario Kart on each other in a quickly diminishing map. And…
H1Z1, the battle royale 'em up that Brendan "Playerunknown" Greene worked on before making his own Battlegrounds, is now going free-to-play. Developers Daybreak Game Company have announced that H1Z1 will switch to free-to-play at 10am PST (6pm UK time) today, which is a surprise coming only eight days after the game left early access. It seems a sensible move, given dwindling playercounts in the face…
H1Z1 has rolled out a major new update today, officially bringing the survive-y Battle Royale out of early access. Along with it, developers Daybreak have added a surprising new variant playmode, called Auto Royale. Auto Royale is a blend of regular Battle Royale systems and perennial PlayStation favorite Twisted Metal.
Feature: The biggest hits of the past 12 months
Another year over, a new one just begun, which means, impossibly, even more games. But what about last year? Which were the games that most people were buying and, more importantly, playing? As is now something of a tradition, Valve have let slip a big ol' breakdown of the most successful titles released on Steam over the past twelve months. Below is the full, hundred-strong…
This month's Humble Monthly is offering an early unlock of H1Z1 to those who subscribe. That'll cost you $12 / £10 at the moment if you fancy it. H1Z1 is currently available from Steam for £14.99 / $19.99, so even if it's the only game you want out of this Humble batch, you're in a good place.
3 years ago
Feature: It's all just hot air
The Steam Charts is the only place on the internet to find out the most up-to-date information about the games you care about the most, the latest rumours of upcoming changes to early access hits, and secrets that can see your way to coming top of the gaming high score tables!
Feature: St. Patch-Rich Day
Update Night is a new fortnightly column in which Rich McCormick revisits games to find out whether they've been changed for better or worse through ongoing development. I had assumed that, were I trapped in a kill-or-be-killed nightmare future Battle Royale-type dealie, camouflage would be important. In a world where everyone very quickly gets their hands on some form of weapon, I’d want to take…
H1Z1: King of the Kill [official site] appears week-in, week-out in both our Steam Charts and in the list of the most played games on Steam, but it's come under increased competition and criticism for its bugs and problems since the release of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Some changes addressing a few of those problems were added to the game's test server last week, and now a…
Feature: AnotherBattleRoyaleWithAStupidName
Every week we dump Brendan out the back of a plane and into the hotbed of gunfire that veterans know only as ‘early access’. This week, the competitive murderfields of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds [official site]. I’m halfway across the river when the net starts closing in. A huge electric field looms up behind me, sparkling and fizzing and nipping at my heels as I swim for…
Feature: Does it work for two-player coop?
Good Coop, Bad Coop is our new series in which Graham and Brendan will be bonding in co-operative games through teamwork, friendship and shared trauma. This week, the rapid, open-world deathmatch of H1Z1: King of the Kill [official site], which is currently in early access. Brendan: When we first landed on the outskirts of… *squints at map* ...Pleasant Valley, I believe it was only thirty…
4 years ago
Survival isn't enough for the youth of today, oh no, they must make sure everyone no one else survives. Battle Royale 'em ups have spun off from open-world survival games, bringing a faster, learner experience of rummaging in bins until you get a nice rod to stab a stranger in the neck. Heck, half of 'em are directly cut out from open-world survive games -…
Feature: Surviving, not living
There's an archetypical plot running through a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction, and particularly zombie fiction, where the survivors realize that they never before felt as alive as they do in the midst of their fight for survival. World War Z has no shortage of characters who found meaning and purpose in the zombie apocalypse, a disaster that liberated them from postmodern malaise. A similar sentiment…
Multiplayer open-world zombie sandbox crafting building survival etc. H1Z1 [official site] is splitting in half, like a zombie who got stuck in a door and its torso is crawling onwards ever hopeful while its legs wonder what they're going to do with all these t-shirts. Look, it's first thing on Monday morning, okay, so you're not getting That Sparkling Alice O'Connor Wit yet. But from…
Feature: The Mittani's efforts to rule another sandbox
Ridealong is a new monthly feature where Brendan travels deep into game worlds to meet, question and journey with the inhabitants that dwell within. This week, the EVE Online pilots that are plundering H1Z1. The Goons are invading. They're coming over the top and killing everyone in sight, without remorse, without even a word of warning. But this isn't an invasion into one of the…
5 years ago
H1Z1 [official site] is to hold its first official tournament on September 26th at TwitchCon, the streaming service's new event highlighting their community and broadcasters. It will use the Battle Royale mode, where groups of players are dropped into a world and then must duke it out until only one or a small group remains, like The Hunger Games with zombies. Or like Battle Royale…
"That's nice, dear," is my usual response to boasts of big business numbers. They rarely reveal much interesting unless you're really into the nitty-gritty of #business (in which case, fair play to you). Why do I raise an eyebrow at news that H1Z1 [official site] has sold over one million copies? Well, while many (me included, probably) have muttered that the Early Access open-world zombie…
A name change to the awkward-sounding'Daybreak Game Company' isn't the only consequence Sony's recent shock sale of its MMOy division SOE to management firm Columbus Nova. Barely more than a week after the acquisition, Daybreak is making lay-offs, reportedly including the long-time lead and public face of the Everquest games. "The operation of current games" won't be affected apparently, so while this is sad news…
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