Sony Online Entertainment is making its very own massive multiplayer online (MMO) zombie game, SOE head John Smedley announced last night in an interview with the web show Game Talk Live. It’s called H1Z1, and it’s coming to PC via Steam early access in four to six weeks and the PlayStation 4 console at an unspecified later date.
The final game will be free-to-play, but early access will cost gamers $US20.
I’m guessing that H1Z1 is a reference to the H1Ni Swine Flu virus that almost wiped out humanity back in 2009. Indeed, Smedley laid out a very contagion-fuelled backstory in a post on the game’s new Subreddit. “The H1Z1 virus devastated mankind and left nothing but death and destruction in its wake and a world nearly empty of human life where the remnants of humanity are in a fight against extinction against those infected with the virus,” Smedley wrote. “It’s been 15 years since H1Z1 was first encountered and what’s left of the world before is overrun with the Infected. Humanity has been reduced to hiding in the shadows, searching desperately for food and water and anything that can help to survive even for another day.”
That last part might sound an awful lot like the premise of PC games like DayZ or even Rust, two recent sleeper hits that have evolved into vibrant (and often very very weird) and violent online communities. Smedley anticipated this comparison in his Reddit post, saying that H1Z1 will draw on SOE’s technical and creative experience making hit MMO franchises like EverQuest and PlanetSide to distinguish itself from the rest of the pack.
“It uses our proprietary next-gen Forgelight engine and that means we’ve had a lot of really cool technology to work with to make the game we wanted to make,” Smedley said. That means the game will be able to host thousands of players across multiple servers (each with “very different rule sets”) and even involve players in the design process à la EverQuest Next Landmark.
Comments
19 responses to “Sony Is Making A Zombie MMO”
Enough with the zombies. Bring back dinosaurs! in video games! Here’s hoping Stomping Land, Saurian and the few others in development are awesome.
I’m with avsky! They are about two years too late for me care. Its time for dinosaurs again!!!!
Inb4 DICE Announces Dinosaurs in BF4
or @JackFrags finds them first
Yeah, no
Kinda over the whole zombie thing, its been done now
Here’s a novel idea, try something that hasn’t been done by everyone already, like a MOBA perhaps :oP
Actually, now I’ve said that, someone will probably announce a new Zombie MOBA :oP
Already is one.
Dead Island epidemic, Worlds first ZOMBA.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/222900/
“..almost wiped out humanity”
Exaggerate much?
And this will be interesting given SOE’s track record with MMO’s.
Yeah, nothing like the 1918 Pandemic which killed about 50 million people. 20%-40% of the worlds population was infected.
Then again a Pandemic is not the body count, it’s how it spreads and 2009 it spread far and wide and quickly.
I don’t care what anyone says – I fucking love zombies. Always have, always will 😛
I do not, however, love MMO’S, so… meh.
What the? Did I just log in as you to type that, because it’s exactly what I think. 😛
We must be very similar. Which makes you a man of impeccable taste and judgement 🙂 Probably generously endowed, too.
Sounds kinda like state of decay which i loved, maybe time to get a ps4 or a new laptop.
Except SoD had no multiplayer at all…
I’m really oping MS throws some serious cash into a fully-fledged sequel for the Xbone.
That game had some serious potential!
It was meant to have mp through DLC but it got scrapped, yeah i am waiting for the sequal on XB1
Having not played Rust or DayZ, this has piqued my interest. I’ve never got stuck into a fully-fledged MMO, either, so this is definitely on my “watch” list.
After the recent Landmark bait&switch I don’t think I will bother.
http://www.deadislandepidemic.com/
Already ahead of you mate.
Cartoonish. Not the kind of crowd this game is targeting.
Yannick, you’re right, DayZ has changed, but you missed the ‘d’ in the word devolved. Small typo but it’s a world of difference.
Sounds and looks like this is more approachable than DayZ and the fortress building sounds really interesting. Also looks like this works well in both 1st and 3rd person, which is pretty rare. Not into MMOs and haven’t played a lot of zombie games but this does interest me.