Remember way back in the long, long ago, before H1Z1 hit early access, split, reconstituted, renamed, didn’t launch, aborted a console port, and all those shenanigans? You know, back when the game was planned as a free-to-play title, but it didn’t happen?
Now it’s happened.
Following the official launch of H1Z1 (the battle royale half) last week, Daybreak has formally announced that it’s going free-to-play. Today. There are brand-new buyable packs on Steam running up to 100 bucks, but they are at least technically optional.
Readers will recall that the game has appeared to be struggling on Steam over the past half year as other battle royale games picked up players; as of February, the game had apparently lost 90% of its playerbase since last summer, presumable to the likes of PUBG and Fortnite, the latter of which launched free.
The zombie sandbox half of the game, Just Survive, hasn’t made any free-to-play announcement yet.
You asked, we heard you. #H1Z1 is going FREE TO PLAY on Steam! All the details can be found right here >> https://t.co/EFYD8x68Vq ! Been with us this whole time? We've got an Appreciation Pack waiting for you, too. #H1FREE1 pic.twitter.com/t77VEQt5pe
— H1Z1 (@H1Z1) March 8, 2018
