Daybreak has officially split up H1Z1‘s King of the Kill and Just Survive mode into separate games.
Daybreak revealed their plans to split H1Z1 into two last January after finding that players of the King of the Hill and Just Survive modes had formed into separate communities. This is a complete split; meaning not only are there different communities, but separate developer teams, different inventories, etc.
H1Z1 Just Survive is the original open world survival game. You are one of the survivors of a zombie virus pandemic, and have to move deliberately and carefully in a world with exploration, crafting, combat, and most importantly, permadeath.
H1Z1 King of the Kill is the popular Battle Mode, now spun off into a completely separate game. Drop into a large scale arena and fight other players to the death. It’s last man standing, meaning you need to use every bit of strategy and guile at your disposal to survive the longest.
H1Z1 has gone through some growth pains as Daybreak tried out different business models, to the consternation of fans. Fans objected when Daybreak tried to add microtransactions to make it pay-to-win. Daybreak also sought to introduce a monthly subscription. Daybreak gave way to fans and did not push through with either microtransactions or subscriptions.
Today, H1Z1 Just Survive and H1Z1 King of the Kill are each sold for $20. Players who already owned H1Z1 before the split now have copies of both. In this way, H1Z1 King of the Kill can see development into its full potential, and H1Z1 Just Survive is also freed up to develop as it needs.
