Season 6 of Z1BR begins today, Thursday, November 7, in all server regions (no downtime is required).

This season, we are relaxing ping lock and removing Asia as a playable region. This will allow us to consolidate our player base and speed up match queue times on NA and EU servers, offering all players the opportunity to refresh their Leaderboard standing with the new season.

Z1BR servers will come down in all regions on Wednesday, July 17 at 2 PM PDT / 10 PM BST to bring you the new game update. Estimated downtime is 3 hours. Full patch notes below:

Game Updates:

• New Vehicle: Racer

• The supercharged Racer luxury sports car makes its debut in the Raining Racers Arcade Mode. It will join the permanent roster of vehicles across all game modes next Season.

• New Arcade Mode: Raining Racers

• Raining Racers is a solos mode that drops players into the match with two Racer Signal grenades, each capable of calling in a Racer airdrop. Toxic gas is extra deadly, and the time between gas rings has been dramatically cut, requiring speed and quick thinking to make the final gas ring. The Raining Racers weapons arsenal has also been designed to add extra danger to the road: the Deagles, Explosive Crossbows, and the RPG-7 (airdrop only) are the only available weapons in this mode.

• Win an Arcade match with any helmet equipped throughout the duration of the Raining Racers event to earn the legendary animated Fastest Racer Helmet.

• The new Racer Crate has been added to the game:

• Each Crate purchases offers a rare chance to hit Jackpot, instantly unlocking all 10 Racers skins in the crate at once.
  
• Three new outfits and the legendary Police Racer skin are available for purchase as single-set crates:

Z1BR servers will come down in all regions on Wednesday, June 26 at 2 PM PDT / 10 PM BST to bring you the new game update. Estimated downtime is 2 hours. Full patch notes below:

Game Updates:

• New Arcade Mode: Hot Dog Eating Contest
  
• Hot Dog Eating Contest will run from Wednesday, June 26 to Wednesday, JUly 10
  
• Hot Dog Champion: Collect 100 Hot Dogs to earn the Patriotic Motorcycle Helmet (ultra rare)
  
• Hot Dog Eating King: Win an Arcade Mode match with the Golden Hot Dog in your possession to earn the Patriotic Unicorn Mask (legendary)
  
• Once a player completes the Hot Dog Eating King challenge, the golden hot dog will no longer be visible to that player (they can still collect regular hot dogs)
  
• New Crate: Patriotic Set Crate is now available

Bug Fixes:

• Item icons are fixed including the Vixen Set Crate

H1Z1 (PS4) and Z1BR (PC) servers will be coming offline at the below times for each region for an estimated 2-hour maintenance to bring you the new Summer game update:

Z1BR PC global: Wednesday, June 26 at 2PM PDT
PS4 NA: Thursday, June 27 at 8AM PDT
PS4 EU: Thursday, June 27 at 11PM BST

Who's Hungry? We're ready to usher in the heat with a special Arcade Mode dedicated to that most timeless of summertime traditions: stuffing our faces with hot dogs!

NEW EVENT: HOT DOG EATING CONTEST

Much poultry has been consumed throughout Pleasant Valley but we're in a red meat mood this summer! The Hot Dog Eating Contest is a new Arcade Mode scheduled to run from Thursday, June 27 through Wednesday, July 10. Celebrate the great eaters of lore by collecting two types of hot dogs scattered across the map, each offering their own challenge and reward.

Collect 100 hot dogs throughout the duration of the event and you'll be rewarded with the new ultra rare Patriotic Motorcycle Helmet! But for hungrier players with the skill (and the stomach!), a special reward exists if you find and finish a match with a rare golden hot dog.

Unlike regular hot dogs, which count toward your challenge total every time you pick one up regardless of your placement in any individual match, a golden hot dog remains in your inventory until you're killed or you win that match. Found in air drops, golden hot dogs can also be looted off others, and any lootbag with one will clearly be seen to contain it. You MUST win the match with a golden hot dog in your inventory to collect a legendary reward: the new animated Patriotic Unicorn Mask!

The Hot Dog Eating Contest modifies the Swagnum Opus ruleset, with every player dropping in with a special one-shot Swagnum (golden magnum) and a single round. Additional rounds can be found in airdrops, while Crossbows (with fireworks!) and throwables can be picked up across the map.

This event will only be available in Arcade Mode through Wednesday, July 10, so be sure to finish off your dogs and collect your rewards before it ends!

PATRIOTIC SET CRATE

Unsure what to wear to that family BBQ? Get decked out for Summer with the all-new Patriotic Set Crate!

Four new Patriotic Sets are available to show off your liberty colors, with each crate purchase offering a guaranteed set or higher tier unlock, all the way up to legendary with the animated Patriotic Stars Helmet! Check out the Marketplace every day for new weapon, vehicle, and parachute skins to complete your outfit!

SUMMER CRATE SALE

Along with the release of the new Patriotic Set Crate, we're also celebrating the new season with a 25% off sale on ALL other crates! This limited-time sale will only last until 11:59 PM PDT on Wednesday, July 10.

Z1BR Servers are back up in all regions after today's game update. Full patch notes below:

Updates:

• The ARV has been added to all game modes
  
• The LMG (mid-range Light Machine Gun) and Scout Rifle (long-range sniper rifle) have been added to all game modes
  
• 6 New Arcade Modes have been introduced: Sharp Shooter, Road Runners, Assault Rush, Detonation, ATV Rampage, Outlawed: No Shotguns No Bows
  
• Arcade Modes will now run on a rotating weekend cadence from Friday 10am PDT – Monday 10am PDT. Initial schedule:

June 14 – June 17: Shotties & Snipers
June 21 – June 24: Auto Royale
June 28 – July 1: ATV Rampage

First off, thank you all for your patience as we worked through what’s next for Z1BR.

We have a deep love for this game. H1Z1 on PC, after all, is the OG BR game that launched the most popular genre in the world, and many of us have spent years working on it. We know as well as anybody how much the landscape for battle royale has changed over that time; but we still believe there is a special something to H1’s unique flavor of no-frills BR.

The dev team at NantG did an amazing job bringing Z1BR back to its roots, but the sudden transition left the game in today’s uncertain state. The challenges are real and significant. But we also know that many of you love this game just as we do. With your help, we believe we can try out some new ideas and get the game back on solid footing.

Ultimately, we understand that no single update or major content drop will ever get Z1BR back to #1 on Twitch or bring in millions of new players. But we’re not ready to call it quits either. Like you guys, many of us have poured thousands of hours into this game; we still believe it fills a special niche and offers a unique experience no other BR game can match.

PC vs PS4

The immediate challenge we faced at the beginning of this transition is that our team has been entirely focused on PS4 development for some time. Z1BR (PC) and H1Z1 (PS4) development and gameplay have forked in meaningful ways in the past year -- particularly when it comes to the core combat mechanics that make Z1BR so unique.

That said, while we don’t want to touch Z1BR’s core mechanics, one of the advantages we start out with is a deep library of PS4 content (past, present, and under development) that we’ve already begun scoping out for Z1BR. PS4 content like new modes (e.g. FFA), new weapons, new vehicles, new skins, and ultimately, a new map are now all on the table for Z1BR.

The game will still continue to look and feel like the Z1BR you know and love. Only now with both games under the same umbrella again, we have the opportunity to experiment with some of the fun new content we cooked up for PS4 that we can now bring to both games and both communities.

SEASON 4

We initially ended Season 3 and kicked off a new, interim Season 4 so we could work on our strategy to support both games. Now that we’re ready, we plan to immediately introduce meaningful new content to Z1BR with our first game update next week on Thursday, June 13.

Next week’s update will include:

• ARV for all modes
• LMG and Scout Rifle for all modes
• 6 new Arcade Modes
• New Skins and Outfits

And on deck following next week’s update is the return of an old friend: Auto Royale!

This is our first opportunity to introduce some of the cool content our PS4 team designed, but it also signifies our focus on live service: more frequent updates, rotating Arcade modes, fresh content and new events.

SEASON 5…AND BEYOND

We have a lot more PS4 content available for Z1BR – some in active development, some tried and tested on console that we believe will make for a fun change of pace for our PC community.

But the BIGGEST content drop we know is coming to BOTH platforms is a major one: the new Outland map.

As our PC community remembers will with Z2 and Z1 Remastered, developing a new map is an enormous undertaking, and we’re not dropping a date until we’ve had more time for testing. But the good news is that Outland has been under development for PS4 for months now, which means we’re a lot closer to being able to bring it PC Test Servers than we would’ve been if we’d started developing it anew at the beginning of this transition.

Thank you again for all your patience and support over the last few months (and years!). This is just a first step forward, but the road ahead could not be more exciting.

As we stated in our Season 4 Announcement, we wanted to ensure that every player who would've qualified for Showdown in each region receives their rewards, per their ranking at the end of Season 3.

After our standard review process (monitoring CS reports for cheating, toxic behavior, or confirmed exploits), we have begun the process of granting the following items to the following players:

• Animated Showdown AR-15: Top 15 in each region
  
• Showdown Logo Tactical Backpack: Top 100 in each region
  
• Showdown Logo Motorcycle Helmet: All Z1BR players who logged in during calendar year 2019
  
  

All Showdown Rewards should be fully granted by the end of today (Wednesday, May 15, 2019).

Z1BR Servers will come down in all regions on Wednesday, May 1 at 1 PM PDT / 8 PM GMT to end Season 3. Estimated downtime is 3 hours. Full patch notes below:

Game Updates:

• Season 3 has ended. Season 4 is scheduled to begin on May 14th.
  
• South America has been removed as a playable region.
  
• Ranked Pro has been removed from the game.

Bug Fixes:

• Helmet icons, Armor icons, and player health now update properly in the group HUD.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused some players to occasionally get stuck on an unresponsive title screen.
  
• Shot block markers no longer display for vehicle passengers.
  
• Reticle should be blocked by the character’s head less often when crouching and strafing.
  
• Made camera heights for 1911 and bow more consistent when moving versus stationary when crouched.
  
• Weapon icons no longer occasionally appear sideways in the Kill Feed.
  
• Group members returning from a match now display together properly on the Main Menu.
  
• Team members no longer hear each other firing the AR-15 when opening Crates.

As we’ve stated since the transition, our number one goal is to maintain Z1BR game service while we evaluate the steps required to continue supporting the game. As part of this process, we want to provide our players information about the game as internal decisions are made in real time.

On Tuesday, April 30, we are ending Season 3. We are also shutting down South America servers at that time. This will consolidate our Americas player base on North America, speeding up queue times and ensuring Z1BR's other servers continue to operate for the vast majority of our global community as we lead into next Season. As of this time, we plan to kick off Season 4 on Tuesday, May 14.

We also wanted to inform you that we will be unable to host The Showdown. After much deliberation, we determined it's just not realistic for us to put on a massive global event in such a short window of time that will live up to the standard we've set with past Showdowns.

However, we're still making sure that every player who would've qualified for Showdown receives their rewards, per their Leaderboards ranking at the end of Season 3:

• The top 10 players in each region will receive their Showdown placement skin;
  
• The top 75 in each region will receive their participant skin;
  
• And the entirety of our community will be granted the viewer skin that was promised to them at the beginning of Season 3

We sincerely thank you for your patience as we continue to work through this transition. We will be back with more information as we work towards kicking off Season 4.