H1Z1 sells over 1m Early Access copies in two months

Open world zombie MMO H1Z1 has sold over 1m copies on Steam, developer Daybreak Game Company's president John Smedley revealed on Twitter.

That's a lot for a game that costs £14.99 / $19.99, yet will be free-to-play upon launch later this year. Especially one that launched two months ago to generally poor reception - a status that wasn't helped by the surprise addition of arguably "pay-to-win" supply drops that contained weapons. This was after the developer said that the game wouldn't have any performance-boosting micro-transaction. As a result, the company formerly known as Sony Online Entertainment decided to offer refunds to those upset at this addition.

Things only got worse when Daybreak saw a number of layoffs in mid February.

Yet many saw potential in this late-to-the-zombie-apocalypse underdog. "SOE has undoubtedly got the ability to make H1Z1 great," wrote Eurogamer contributor Rick Lane in his initial Early Access impressions. "But right now the result is a poor imitation of Bohemia Interactive's sterling work [DayZ]."

But H1Z1 has supposedly gotten a lot better since then due to a flurry of patches and updates. "When it launched there was no loot around and it was a pretty hollow experience. Now there's a ton of loot, and it feels like the world is being fleshed out a lot," said our YouTube editor and resident zombie expert Ian Higton. Regarding the supply drops, he said "no one buys the drops any more, I haven't seen a plane fly in and drop one for the longest time."

Are you playing H1Z1? If so, do you think it has what it takes to compete with its obvious inspiration, DayZ, a game that hit the 1m sales mark in a scant four weeks despite its developer warning people that its early build would be a "recipe for disappointment"?