Daybreak Game Company makes H1Z1 free

Daybreak Game Company has announced that the battle royale game H1Z1 will be free to play starting Thursday. In doing so, the developer fulfills its initial promise to make the game free-to-play.

The developer says that users who have purchased the game for 20 euros can request their money back via Steam. This is subject to the condition that the game was purchased less than two weeks ago and that it has been played for less than two hours.

H1Z1 came out of Early Access at the end of February. During the Early Access period, users could purchase the game for $20 to pre-play it and sponsor the developers. Initially, the developer had already indicated that the game would be free-to-play, but when it came out at the end of February, it was still asking 20 euros for it.

It is not clear why the game studio is still making the game free. The announcement on Steam opens with “you asked for it and we heard you,” but Polygon suggests the cause may be a decline in co-playing users. However, Daybreak manager Anthony Gastoro tells the website that the number of unique players has increased.

Players who purchased the game before it became free-to-play will be rewarded with the H1Z1 Appreciation Pack, which contains a number of skins and other items with a total value of between $30 and $50.

H1Z1 is available to download for Windows for free from Thursday via Steam. The game has also been announced for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but when it will be released is not yet known.