PUBG‘s extraordinary success may have killed interest in H1Z1, with the previously popular survival game seeing its player base plummeting alongside the rise of Bluehole’s battle royale game.
H1Z1‘s player base is down by a whopping 78% since July, as noted by GitHyp, with its numbers receiving no significant increase despite it being made available as a free download for a week. At its highest peak, H1Z1 had over 150,000 players, but it now has just over 25,000. With PUBG going into Early Access back in March 2017, H1Z1‘s player base has declined in tandem with its competitor’s rise.
As shown by Steam Charts, H1Z1‘s number of players have been dropped considerably since August, with its having a peak player count of 43,250. Compare this to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ 2,949,950 and its clear that the latter game has taken up most of the survival genre’s market share.
Also: PUBG Review (PC) — PlayerUnknown’s Battleground 1.0 Feels Like Early Access 2.0
PUBG‘s creator Brendan Greene moved away from the H1Z1 team to start working on his own survival game, so it must be a bitter twist for H1Z1 developer Daybreak that their former associate is currently contributing to their game’s downfall. With PUBG now the most played game on Steam and major Twitch streamers moving their coverage away from H1Z1 and towards Greene’s game, it seems that there’s little hope for H1Z1 to pull itself back up to its previous heights.
With PUBG now being joined by the likes of the ultra popular Fortnite Battle Royale, H1Z1 has even more competition in its genre. With its free week failing to lead to a substantial turnaround for the game, it looks unlikely that it’s going to get back on its feet. Maybe there’s another trick left up Daybreak’s sleeve, but with H1Z1’s falling so dramatically, they’ll need to pull something off sooner rather than later.
