Viewing Company : Daybreak Game Company


DC Universe Online coming to Switch, delisting dread averted!
DC Universe Online coming to Switch, delisting dread averted!

I couldn’t help but wonder how much longer Daybreak Game Company might last after the past few years of delistings and server shutdowns. We lost PlanetSide and Legends of Norrath in 2016, Landmark in 2017, and Just Survive last October. Knowing nothing else about the company’s financials or player base, it looked like things might be getting grim.

But hey, let’s look on the bright side for a change! Thanks to the Nintendo Switch the company has a huge new player base to monetize with their long-running MMORPG, DC Universe Online. Launching later this Summer, the free-to-play MMO will initially run on its own server with crossplay between PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox players a possibility down the line.

And for now that’s about all there is to say except that I’m glad I don’t have to write an obituary for a game as long-lasting as DCUO (not yet anyways).

The original H1Z1 (aka Just Survive) is shutting down October 24th

The original H1Z1 (aka Just Survive) is shutting down October 24th

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.

DC Universe Online for PlayStation 3 shuts down January 2018

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Speaking of year-end delistings, here’s the first of what I hope will be a small list for the remainder of 2017. Daybreak Game Company announced on October 30th that the PlayStation 3 version of DC Universe Online will be shut down on January 31st, 2018. The game remains available on Steam, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 and the post from the team explains:

“In order to deliver the highest quality experience to our players, we will focus our resources on further optimizing the game for PlayStation 4. While there is still time to continue exploring DCUO on the PS3, we want to give you advanced notice so you can prepare for these future changes.

All of your player information, subscriptions, DLC purchases, and game information transfer automatically to the PlayStation 4 when you log in with the same PSN account.”

January 2018 will mark seven years that the game was available on PlayStation 3. From its retail launch on disc in January of 2011 to its digital release in March and its pivot to free-to-play by year’s end, DCUO has survived quite a bit of marketplace upheaval. With DC in its best consumer position since the 80’s there may even be more years ahead of the game than behind it, just not on PlayStation 3.

The Watch List calendar has been updated and a page with the details on the PlayStation 3 version will be added soon.