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Sony Online Entertainment’s online zombie game H1Z1 is the latest high profile title to be plagued by a number of server and technical problems at launch.
Issues reported by players of the Steam Early Access title included trouble with logging in, a lack of active servers and other problems such no voice chat and lag during gameplay.
A series of tweets suggested developers were working around the clock and out of hours to fix the game’s early problems.
team is headed home.. only 2 hours of sleep in the last 30 or so. and we need fresh eyes and clear heads to do a lot of work tomorrow.
— John Smedley (@j_smedley) January 16, 2015
thanks for your patience. Believe me we won't sleep till this is fixed.
— John Smedley (@j_smedley) January 16, 2015
Players have also been up in arms by suggestions that the game is ‘pay-to-win’, with users able to pay for air-drops to gain supplies such as weapons and ammo.
Responding on Reddit thread, SOE president John Smedley said players who bought early on could apply for limited-time refunds if they were unhappy with their experience.
Though in Early Access with issues arguably expected to some degree, H1Z1 is the latest in a string of online games during the last few years to experience launch problems. Other notable examples include Assassin’s Creed: Unity, Driveclub and SimCity.
