H1Z1 player base declines by 91% months before launch of pro league

Original story (26/02/18): Mere months before the pro league was set to launch, it has been revealed that H1Z1's player base has declined by 91% since July 2017.

The game peaked mid-way through last year when it reached 150,000 concurrent players. However, according to data from GitHyp, the number of concurrent players has fallen off dramatically since then, peaking at 14,000 this month and struggling to regularly exceed to 9,000.

At the height of its success, H1Z1 was frequently the third-most played game on Steam, coming in behind only Dota 2 and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.

Since then however, the former king of the battle royale genre has begun a decent in obsolescence with PUBG not only leaving Early Access on PC, but also arriving on the Xbox One. The issue was only compounded further by the surprise entry of Fortnite onto the scene with its free, cross-platform battle royale mode.

Users on Reddit and Steam also blamed the developer's lacking support for the game as it enters a second year of Early Access.

With such a marked decline in active users, the future of the H1Z1 Pro League has been called into doubt.

The League, which promised a "player-first" approach with salaries comparable to that of Overwatch League pros, is likely unsustainable given the current state of the game.

GamesIndustry.biz has reached out to Daybreak Games for comment and is awaiting response.

Update (28/02/18): Daybreak Games today announced that H1Z1 has officially released after two years in Early Access.

Speaking last night over the phone with GamesIndustry.biz, general manager Anthony Castoro said the launch of H1Z1 - along with its new suite of features - will attract new and returning players to the game.

Castoro was un-phased by the precipitous decline in player numbers and made assurances that the H1Z1 Pro League was in no way under threat. He added that more information on the league with be forthcoming in the next few months.