There’s a certain irony in a zombie game’s producer assuring fans that the game is not dead, but that’s one of the central points in the most recent letter for fans of H1Z1: Just Survive. The game’s team has been on the quiet side both before and after the installment of its new General Manager in October, but that’s not because the game is being allowed to quietly die, Daybreak assures players; instead, it’s to avoid replicating what happened with the game’s patch two months ago, which is described as not being the prettiest update in the game’s history. On top of that, the King of the Kill branch of the game has been getting measurably more love ever since the split, including a planned (though delayed) launch from early access and eventual console port.
Daybreak’s Landon Montgomery explains that October’s rocky update caused the development team to switch how the patch pipeline works, with a larger number of iterations on the test server and more attention paid to player feedback on social media. Fans are are being told that these issues are being addressed and will be improved in the future, as will issues like loot, vehicles, and base exploits. You might still be a little bit leery – after all, the game gives players plenty of experience with things that are neither dead nor alive – but it’s a hopeful sign that forward, visible development is getting back on track.
