Daybreak Games announced on August 24th that the original incarnation of H1Z1, currently known as Just Survive, will be shutting down on October 24th. Polygon has as clear a history as I’ve read on the H1Z1 saga but basically it started in Early Access in 2015 following the footsteps of Day Z. Then on the heels of Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds (and with the help of Playerunknown himself), the game split and relaunched as H1Z1: Just Survive and H1Z1: Battle Royale.
H1Z1 was never a massive success and even after the split the original game, Just Survive, continued to see dwindling player numbers. With H1Z1: Battle Royale fairing only slightly better these days it’s no surprise that Daybreak is putting Just Survive to bed. The full statement follows:
After careful consideration, we’ve made the difficult decision to sunset Just Survive on Wednesday, October 24 at 11 a.m. PT. The excitement of the game’s promise was palpable and its loyal community is still full of ideas for its future. Unfortunately, we are no longer in a position to fulfill its greatness and the current population of the game makes it untenable to maintain.
Just Survive was part of our first Early Access project, and we learned a great deal during its development. As with any open world game, the greatest stories came from our passionate players. From the incredibly skilled base builders to the free-ranging gangs, and all of the players named variations of “ImFriendly” and “PleaseDontShootMe”, we hope everyone had amazing adventures across Pleasant Valley and Badwater Canyon.
Thank you for taking the time to play the game, to help test it when we opened the Test servers to the public, and for all of the suggestions and feedback throughout Early Access. We truly appreciate everyone’s commitment and your contributions throughout the development process. Our promise is to do better and learn from every experience along the way.
Just Survive servers will remain available for play until Wednesday, October 24 at 11 a.m. PT, and starting immediately all Steam purchases and in-game transactions have been disabled. To find out if you are eligible for a refund via Steam, please visit this link.
Thank you again for your support and dedication to Just Survive.
Best,
The Just Survive Team at Daybreak Games
I’ll have the date added to the Watch List calendar and a page up for the game soon.