H1Z1’s launch into open beta on PlayStation 4 yesterday seems to have piqued many players’ interest. Today, Daybreak Games announced that the title was downloaded by 1.5 million players in its first 24 hours.
That large number of players could have something to do with yesterday’s massive outages and long load times, as well as preorder items not appearing in-game. Eventually, though, players were able to make it in to play the game.
“This is an incredible milestone and we want to thank all of our player who helped make this possible,” said H1Z1 Producer Terrence Yee. “We believe we’ve found the right balance for battle royale on console and players have responded positively to our reimagining of H1Z1. We will continue to refine the game based on feedback from Open Beta to ensure the best experience possible for our actively growing community.”
H1Z1 has been redesigned for the PS4, featuring a larger weapon arsenal, a reworked UI, and faster-paced gameplay. An updated control scheme allows players to quickly interact with the environment using a radial weapon menu, and equipment is easy to loot thanks to the new “grab-and-go” system.
Overall, the game has more of an arcade-like feel, compared to another battle royale title like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, which is console-exclusive to Xbox One at this time.
Unlike PUBG, though, H1Z1 is free to play, and a full release on PS4 is scheduled for later this year.
