H1Z1 early access date possibly coming this year

Maybe I'm hopelessly optimistic, or maybe Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley is just trying to appease a relentless fanbase — whatever the case, it sounds as though we may get an early access date for H1Z1 before the end of the year.

Responding to a fan's question: "For [Christmas] could we please get an [early access] date or new installment of Survivor Radio [for H1Z1]?" Smedley simply replied, "For sure."

It's unclear if Smedley was answering to an early access date or a new installment of Survivor Radio, but I'm leaning towards the former — if only out of pure hope. Keep in mind, if he is referring to early access, it doesn't necessarily mean that we'll be able to play H1Z1 this year; it only means that we could be getting a date for when early access would begin.

Back in August at SOE Live, H1Z1 technical director Tom Schenck said an early access will be released "When we've got it to the type of acceptable quality level where the game's ready to go." It's now been three months since then; SOE has already acknowledged tons of gameplay changes have been made and they've been "crazy busy" working on new content, so how much longer could it be?

PlayStation Experience is next month, which seems like a perfect time for an announcement, but that appears to be focused more on PlayStation 4 and Vita games. Sure, SOE is bringing H1Z1 to the PS4, but that won't be until after the PC is in early access. And in all likelihood, SOE will be focused on showing off PlanetSide 2 on PS4 at the event.