H1Z1: King of the Hill will leave Steam Early Access and launch as a full, complete game on September 20th, developer Daybreak Games has announced. On PC that is — as the developer has also announced that the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions have been “paused,” with no new release window.

King of the Hill has been in Early Access since February 2016, and has greatly evolved over this period. And therefore, the studio has had to adjust some of the combat and vehicle systems in the wake of fan feedback, add a training mode, and refresh the UI. All of this, according to the company, created many unseen complications.

In addition to this, Producer Chris Wynn also said that the studio was simply “spread too thin”  trying to make the PC and consoles versions at the same time.

“It became clear that to best line up the game for success was to reduce the number of variables in the equation,” Wynn said. “As a result, I have decided to pause our efforts on the console versions and put 100% of the focus on to the PC version of the game for right now. It was definitely a tough decision, but I think it was the right one to make. We have been able to make essential updates to the gunplay, combat, and vehicles, get the new map in a state to go live, and add lots of polish to the core areas of the game.”

“We are creating a competitive game that is consistent, predictable, fair, and as fun to watch as it is to play,” he said. “By structuring the plan in this way, we ultimately will achieve higher-quality targets and not put the game in a situation where we have to compromise quality to hit a date.”

King of the Hill’s PC version sells for $20 through Steam Early Access. The price will go up to $30 come September 20th, so if you’re interested, GET IT NOW.

In February, Daybreak said King of the Kill would launch digitally for PS4 and Xbox One this summer. Obviously, this is no longer the case, and no future release window has been provided.

My Opinion:

Bad news to wake up to on an early mid-week Wednesday morning, but I’m glad to see Daybreak putting the emphasis on quality. And seeing that its main fanbase is on PC, it’s a wise decision by them to make that version the priority.

Tyler Fischer is a Senior Writer for MONG who plays video games when he’s not busy researching alien conspiracy theories at 2AM. You can find him on Twitter.

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