Daybreak Games announces that H1Z1’s planned release for PS4 is coming to fruition, with an open beta starting on May 22 and a full free-to-play release to follow.
H1Z1, one of the first popular battle royale games on PC, is coming to PS4 soon. Daybreak Games made two big announcements today regarding H1Z1‘s forthcoming console release. First is that H1Z1 will be having an open beta beginning May 22, with no currently announced end date. Second, H1Z1 will be, like its PC predecessor, a free-to-play title with microtransactions. Expect further details closer to the start of the open beta.
H1Z1 producer Terrance Yee provided a comment regarding the battle royale game’s optimizations for console:
“H1Z1 on PS4 is true battle royale mayhem. We have reimagined the game for PlayStation 4 and have designed it to accentuate the essentials of battle royale that make the genre so exciting to watch and play. We have added key gameplay differentiators to keep the game frantic and fun — an action shooter’s dream of fast-paced battle royale.”
Players can likely assume that H1Z1‘s open beta will likely serve as a sort of early access build for the battle royale title. That is to say that Daybreak Games will likely keep the open beta running for an extended period of time as it optimizes the game, updates the game’s content, and rebalances it for console players as necessary. PS4 early access isn’t a structure thing like on PC and Xbox One, so an open beta effectively recreates the same thing.
For its release on PS4, H1Z1 will be going through some significant changes. Consoles and PCs play dramatically different, of course, but it seems like Daybreak Games is going a step further in an effort to increase H1Z1‘s appeal on the platform. The changes are largely focused on making H1Z1 a more “frantic and fun” battle royale game, minimizing tedium and speeding up the action.
In terms of tangible changes, that means H1Z1 on Ps4 will feature: a grab-and-go equipment system that simplifies picking up equipment and inventory management, new weapon progression in-game that encourages quicker action and the pursuit of airdrops, other significant but smaller changes like a radial weapon menu and increased gas pacing.
Finally, Daybreak Games also confirmed that H1Z1 will run at 60fps for PS4 Pro players, the perfect upgrade for those who have invested in the more powerful PS4 hardware.
H1Z1 is available now on PC and is planned for release on PS4 following its closed and open betas.
