H1Z1 for PS4 Confirmed with Details on Airdrops and Early Access Emerge at SOE Live
It's official--following the announcement that "DayZ," another apocalyptic title previously heading only to the PC that is now going to PS4, Sony Online Entertainment has also confirmed that its upcoming zombie MMO "H1Z1" will also see light of release on the PS4.
This was confirmed by SOE's own president John Smedley during the Game Talk Live, as confirmed with Polygon. The pricing for the Steam Early Access has also been revealed to be $20, though the release date has not yet been specified.
So far, "H1Z1" is still slated to follow a free-to-play schemed with microtransactions, though SOE has also confirmed that there will be no subscriptions nor will it be a pay-to-win kind of title either.
For the most part, "H1Z1" will be setting itself apart from other zombie survival games due to its features, which are currently being refined by the studio. Polygon adds that given the previously announced 2,000-player capacity, "H1Z1" will be able to have multiple servers, a thriving economy and the unique feature of having allies in the war against the zombies.
More emphasis is put on the character progression and crafting system, which will make or break your survival in the game. There has even been a mention of airdrops happening for "H1Z1," which VG 24/7 reports to be a way to provide survivors with different supplies, from weapons to food. But note that this is not a free dole-out, but rather a purchase in-game.
Gamers will pay an organization that will then provide the airdrops for supplies. However, here's where it gets interesting and perhaps rather a disadvantage for some. The purchased airdrops will arrive via plane, and if you're not paying attention, the supplies that you paid for can get into enemy hands if they are able to snatch it before you do, as the airdrops will not drop on your lap.
Early Access as Hinted at SOE Live
As far as the Steam Early Access release date is concerned, the developers are not yet revealing any hard and fast dates even in hints.
But at SOE Live, Gamezone did get the closest to getting a statement, this time from "H1Z1" technical director Tom Schenck.
"When we've got it to the type of acceptable quality level here the game's ready to go," said Schenck to Gamezone. "We've tried to put that out there as much as possible. We like to say things like 'soon,' but that can be taken a lot of different ways. Point is, we have a list of stuff on the board. We've got to go through that list and there's got to be a quality product."
Recently in a dev blog, the developers have stated that they are trying to create more character choices, which includes prioritizing making female characters.
Still, the developers are mostly trying to ensure that the core systems they have for "H1Z1" is already in place and reliable before they aim to release.
"Once we have all those things in place, we can go into early access. We could've released early access a long time ago, but I think it would've been in a state where a lot of people play it, they play it once and they're like 'okay, it's not there yet, I'll play it later' and that never happens. They just never come back to it."
This may SOE's way of ensuring that even at Steam Early Access, "H1Z1" will be a game playable at its very core.
"H1Z1" Airdrops Reveal (Credit: YouTube/H1Z1)
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