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John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment took to Reddit yesterday to hold an AMA (Ask Me Anything) thread on his studio’s new game H1Z1. As soon as it was announced, many people, myself included, expressed their concern over H1Z1‘s similarities to Bohemia Interactive’s DayZ – the mod and the early access version of the standalone. In his AMA, Smedley took a bold and sincere approach to addressing concerns over these similarities and laid out his team’s plans for their very own zombie survival game.
“Not going to give some politically correct dodgy b.s. answer. It is a survival in a Zombie Apocalypse game. So is Day Z,” he wrote. “They have made a brilliant game (first I might add). They have a great vision for it and can count myself and most of the people on our team as fans and contributors.”
“We’re making the game we’re making,” Smedley stated. “Long term we plan on making this about a persistent world with a big landscape with thousands of players. The way we would like to see this roll out is much more like players building small enclaves or pockets of territory and hold out against a legitimate zombie threat that’s ever present while others go it alone taking their chances.. These player built structures, forts and towns are one of the ways the players try to carve out some small space in a dangerous world.”
H1Z1 plans to differentiate itself from DayZ with its immediate focus on base building and an in-game economy system. Base building was announced to be coming to DayZ Standalone later this year. As for the economy system within H1Z1, Smedley writes that it will rely on crafting and be player-controlled, where players can create and sell items to others.
“So this is our take on the Zombie Apocalypse with a lot of friends and hopefully some great enemies both living and dead. We’re proud to be up front and say we love Day Z and the job they’ve done and we hope they enjoy what we make too,” the SOE President said.
I for one welcome competition against the likes of DayZ and Rust. I am a huge fan of DayZ Standalone, already sinking in over 160 hours, and a new competitor on the field will only make these survival games better.
H1Z1 is set to release on Steam Early Access for $20 in a few weeks and on the PlayStation 4 in the future. A shift to a free-to-play model will happen further into development.
