H1Z1: King Of The Kill Delayed, Daybreak Cash Replaced By Crowns

If you've been following H1Z1: King of the Kill, you likely noticed that the title did not launch on September 20th, as was previously announced. While we missed the news at the time, Daybreak Game Company had announced last week via a Producer's Letter that the title would be delayed in order to test recently-added features "at scale." While a major content update went out on September 20th, the game did not launch.

The delay is explained in the Producer's Letter as follows.

While we’ve mentioned that there are a lot of new features, systems, and polish coming, I know there is some uncertainty in the community around September 20th given that many of these features have not yet made it to the Test server for you to get your hands-on, explore, and provide feedback on-- you are operating in the dark with only our word to go on. There are a lot of reasons why we have not pushed those features to test, but reading all of your feedback made us recognize that we definitely need time to test all of these new features at scale.

I have said before that quality is our top priority, and that continues to be our commitment. As we work through Early Access and simultaneously shape how this stage of development is defined, we also have to resolve the best process to develop a quality, live game, AND also keep our community well-informed. You have expectations, we have expectations, and we need to be certain those expectations are in alignment.

Ultimately, this means that we are going to let the game “bake” a bit longer and ensure that you continue to have a voice and are able to provide feedback into the features that you have not had the opportunity to play. We will still release a MASSIVE update on September 20th, but we are going to keep King of the Kill in Early Access, at the Early Access pricing, in order to allow us and you to test the features and provide feedback on them. We will continue to listen and read your thoughts and use it to plot the course for King of the Kill to make it as good as we all know it can be. Testing the game at scale will be important, and it is just not something that we can replicate within our own walls or even on the Test servers. We want to be sure everything is working as intended with you, prior to an official launch – it would be unfair to do anything otherwise.

Some major changes to the way the game is monetized also went live on September 20th. As of the update, players are no longer able to use Daybreak Cash in King of the Kill. Instead, a unique currency called "Crowns" is now being used in its place. King of the Kill players are being given a chance to convert their Daybreak Cash into Crowns at a 1:1 exchange rate until December 31st. After that, there will be no way to use Daybreak Cash in King of the Kill. Oddly enough, H1Z1: Just Survive will continue to use Daybreak Cash for the foreseeable future.

With the move to Crowns, crate keys have been removed. From now on, players will need to open crates with Crowns or purchase unlocked crates directly. All locked crates that players did not open by September 20th have been converted to "standard unlocked Predator crates."

You can find more information about the changes included in King of the Kill's September 20th update in the Producer's Letter.