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Early Access zombie survival hit DayZ tops 3 million sales
Publisher Bohemia Interactive has revealed that DayZ, the cult-hit, open-world zombie survival game, has attracted more than three million sales since its debut on Steam's Early Access platform. DayZ arrives at this milestone only a year after reaching Early Access. Despite pragmatic warnings from DayZ creator Dean "Rocket" Hall that the Early Access version of DayZ is incomplete, the game was an immediate hit, selling over a million copies in its first month, owing largely to the cult following it attracted in its original incarnation: a modification for Bohemia's ArmA 2 first-person military sim. "We would like to say thank you to every single one of the three million players, that have joined us on the journey of making DayZ," writes project lead David Durcak. "You all have helped make DayZ the best open world, zombie survival game. This is an amazing achievement, and we are really looking forward to start sharing with you all of our game design improvements, anti-hack solutions and other optimizations we have been working on for a majority of the last year." [Image: Bohemia Interactive]
DayZ fan film lacks zombies, still feels like DayZ
DayZ creator Dean Hall tweeted his appreciation for a new fan film based on his popular zombie-flavored open world title earlier today. And why not? The flick is a believably bleak meditation on the game's dog-eat-dog post-apocalypse, even though it doesn't feature a single zombie. Click past the cut to give it a look!
DayZ creator unveils new studio, RocketWerkz
Dean "Rocket" Hall has accomplished several great feats in his life; alongside creating the popular mod DayZ, which helped kickstart the survival genre of games, and conquering Earth's tallest boss (you may know it as Mount Everest), he can now add "starting his own studio" to his list of achievements. RocketWerkz is the name, and it'll be where Hall makes his games. Hall announced the news via Twitter, telling any prospective "programmers, artists, etc." to email him their information, noting that initial jobs would be on-site in Dunedin, New Zealand. Hall told Eurogamer in June that he wanted to create "a Valve in the South Pacific, if Valve focused on making games and not making Steam." Hall also said that he'll make himself available as work continues on the standalone version of DayZ, even after his departure from former employer Bohemia Interactive. [Image: Dean Hall]
Mini DayZ is what DayZ would have been like in 1994
You can now play DayZ for free using a web browser ... kind of. Mini DayZ, a fan-made tribute to Bohemia Interactive's zombie apocalypse survival game, has been posted to the publisher's website and is now free to play via Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Opera. It's missing a few features - namely 3D graphics and multiplayer - but if you ever wondered to yourself, 'What if we gave DayZ a top-down camera and retro graphics," now is your chance to find out. Mini DayZ is the work of CannedBits, a Russian player of Dean "Rocket" Hall's DayZ (which, in case you need a history primer, is a standalone game that began life as a mod for Arma 2 and arguably boosted the multiplayer survival genre into prominence). In posting the news about the game's availability via Bohemia to Reddit, CannedBits even caught the attention of Hall himself: "I have to say, I absolutely love Mini DayZ," Hall wrote. "I think it's awesome, amazing, addictive, and brings something really new to the experience. I'm so glad you've been able to make it even better! Ignore the haters, the vast majority of people think it's fantastic and I am one of those people." [Image: Bohemia Interactive/CannedBits]
Protect your brains, DayZ is coming to PlayStation 4
Modder turned developer Dean Hall took the stage at Sony's Gamescom presentation to announce an upcoming PlayStation 4 version of hit zombie survival sandbox DayZ. Details on the new version of the game are scant - Hall failed to mention a release date or even a vague window - but the PlayStation 4 game is based on an "entirely new cross-platform renderer" that will reportedly bring new, enhanced visuals to the undead apocalypse. [Image: Dean Hall]
DayZ switches over to DirectX 11 and reworked controls
The days of DayZ as we knew it are over; all hail the upcoming changes to everyone's favorite gankfest featuring the occasional zombie! In an interview this week, DayZ creator Dean Hall outlined six improvements that the team is working on for the standalone version of the game. Right out of the gate is the decision to add an option to toggle DirectX 11 to make everything look a lot better. "Implementing DirectX 10 or 11 will have a dramatic, instant visual difference and quite a significant performance difference," Hall said. Other changes include new 64-bit server architecture, better hunting mechanics, improved controls, a reworked loot system, and an early game experience fashioned specifically for new players.
DayZ standalone racks up two million sales
The last time we checked in on Dean Hall's zombie apocalypse simulation, DayZ, the game's standalone incarnation had sold over 1.7 million copies. Now, a month later, that figure has grown to two million. Hall broke the news on Twitter, noting that these two million sales come less than six months after the standalone version of DayZ first debuted on Steam Early Access. It had previously been available as a wildly popular ArmA 2 modification, which no doubt bolstered the success of its standalone, retail incarnation. Still, if we learn anything here, it's that modern affection for zombies is as undying as those decrepit, ravenous bags of flesh themselves. [Image: Bohemia Interactive]
DayZ's Dean Hall says Steam removes the need for publishers
Steam's ubiquitous nature as a digital distribution platform has really changed the landscape of PC gaming. It's changed it so much that according to DayZ creator Dean Hall, companies don't really need to worry about a publisher any longer. Hall went on the record recently saying that the Early Access service offered via Steam essentially lets players take over the role of publisher, paying to finish development and providing marketing via word-of-mouth. The strategy has obviously worked quite well for DayZ, which has sold an impressive number of copies even in its very early and unfinished state. Hall also pontificates that it remains up to publishers to see where they fit into the new paradigm, since Early Access gives smaller studios an option that they wouldn't have otherwise.
Bohemia Interactive acquires a new team for DayZ and assembles a roadmap
Are you ready to kill your fellow survivors and take their stuff in DayZ? If so, you've got plenty of company; according to creator Dean Hall, the game has sold 1.7 million copies on Steam thus far. It's given the team good reason to expand, at that. Bohemia Interactive has acquired Cauldron Studios, now renamed Bohemia Interactive Slovakia, and will be putting that team to work developing more content and systems for the zombie sandbox experience. Hall also outlined a roadmap of the game's coming updates, stating that the end of April should see the inclusion of fireplaces, loot respawns, and crossbows. New pistols and AI pathfinding are next on the list, followed by a 64-bit upgrade and the inclusion of animals for players to hunt and cook. Whether you're looking forward to what comes next or just like the current state of beating up players and taking what they've found, if you're a fan of the game you should take a look at the full rundown.
DayZ standalone sells 1.7 million, update due soon
Humanity's morbid fascination with the zombie apocalypse continues unabated as DayZ creator Dean Hall has revealed that the standalone, retail release of his open-world hit has racked up over 1.7 million sales. Hall revealed this figure earlier today at the ongoing EGX Rezzed event in Birmingham, UK. He also noted that the original version of DayZ, a modification for Bohemia Interactive's military simulation ArmA 2, has been downloaded over two million times to date. But Hall didn't attend the event simply to crow about his game's success. According to Eurogamer, Hall also revealed that DayZ's next update will arrive before the end of April, and that it will include a crossbow, fireplaces that players can use to prepare food and a prototype system which should allow loot to respawn within DayZ's expansive yet sparse world. [Image: Bohemia Interactive]
DayZ's dev team is doubling up
DayZ may be losing creator Dean Hall toward the end of 2014, but the popular zombie sandbox project will be gaining several additional developers. "We are inducting a large number of new people to the team, effectively doubling the whole project," wrote Hall on the DayZ dev blog. GamesIndustry.biz reports that Hall also reiterated his intention to move on, but stated that he will remain "in a leadership role until at least the end of the year."
Dean Hall is leaving behind DayZ and Bohemia Interactive
Games are a bit like children. You work with other people to craft them, to help them go from little more than a twinkle in your eye to something capable of surviving without you. Dean Hall created DayZ, but he's jumping ahead to the part where he metaphorically kicks it out of the house and tells it to get a job. Or he's kicking himself out of the house... the metaphor is a bit tortured, but the important point is that he's leaving DayZ behind. Why leave a game that's still early in testing and doing well? As Hall puts it, keeping him on the project could eventually lead to his being someone who tells others how things are done rather than adapting along with a changing game and culture. Instead, he's heading to New Zealand with plans of opening a different studio. The changeover is not happening immediately but should take place before the end of the year. [Thanks to Zipzopboobidybop for the tip!]
DayZ lead Dean Hall to step down by end of year
DayZ creator and project lead on the standalone edition, Dean Hall, will leave developer Bohemia Interactive by year's end. Hall tells Eurogamer that he plans to start his own studio in New Zealand. "I have a specific use. I'm really good at risk-taking and making other people take risks, I've always been good at that in my life," said Hall. "But eventually, that's the bad person to have. Eventually, you don't want the guy telling you to go over the top and get through. So at some point I'll be a disaster for the project, at least in a leadership role." Hall said he won't leave the DayZ community in a lurch, which now numbers over 1.5 million people, but he didn't intend to be with the project this long. Hall says, "That's why it's better to just address the elephant in the room. It's also fairer for Bohemia as well, rather than for me to just turn around one day and say 'see ya'." Bohemia had no comment on Hall's departure. Hall says DayZ can never be the multiplayer game with the spark he wants it to be and he'll continue to "chase that" in his new company. [Image: Bohemia Interactive]
DayZ's next six months to bring vehicles, bases and more
Vehicles, camping, hunting, base building and an improved stamina system are in the works for Bohemia Interactive's survival game, DayZ. Creator Dean Hall recently took to Reddit for an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session, where he revealed the upcoming additions to the game. The new features are expected to be available in-game sometime within the next six months. "Vehicles will be done based on the architecture we are doing for items/weapons now (i.e. attachments)," Hall wrote. "So it's in progress really. We are replacing the physics system for items (throwing, etc...) and this new middleware will be used for vehicles also." For those less inclined to murder their fellow humans, Hall also teased more PvE content such as hunting, camping, and base-building. Bases, Hall noted, will take longer to achieve. Barricades are expected to be the first step toward their eventual full implementation. Hall wrote on Twitter that there will be "experimental" patches for the game regularly, and that updates will be moved to stable status once per month.
DayZ griefers force victims to sing
It may be the most genial stick-em-up of all time. A group of DayZ bandits are ambushing players in game for a truly sinister purpose: to make them sing. In the following video, you can see and hear players sneak up on unprepared foes, force them to their knees at gunpoint, and then offer them a choice. Either they sing their national anthem or they get shot. The bandits don't make their victims sing the entire thing and are recorded saying that they'll help them out with in-game supplies if they go along with it. You can preview the spectacle after the jump.
DayZ won't be released in 2014
If all of the reminders from Bohemia Interactive weren't enough to convey the message already, DayZ is still very early in its testing process. A recent post summing up the game's third week in early access mentions that the team is not expecting to be further than beta testing by the end of 2014, stating once again that the only people who should purchase the game's early access are those who want to be a part of the development process. Aside from that, the development team is looking toward future features including customizable vehicles, structures, and in-depth mechanics for hunting and cooking animals in the wild. At 875,000 copies sold, it seems that the game is carving a niche for itself among zombie survival enthusiasts even if it is still very early in its development. Take a look at the full list of planned improvements to the game in the post.
Devs ramp up development as DayZ passes 800,000 sales
ArmA 2 mod turned standalone zombie apocalypse simulator DayZ has topped 800,000 sales less than a month after its Steam Early Access debut, an accomplishment that creator Dean Hall hopes will speed the game's ongoing development. "We ([ArmA 2 developer Bohemia Interactive] and I) had very ambitious plans for 2014 already, however this amount of sales was completely unexpected," Hall said in a recent Reddit post shortly before DayZ hit the 800,000 sales mark. "Honestly, 250k within a quarter was what I would have considered a success. So to move nearly 800,000 in under a month is crazy." Hall's exuberance seems appropriate, given that less than a week ago the DayZ team was celebrating the sale of 400,000 copies of the game. At a price point of $30 for the Steam Early Access version of the game, 800,000 copies sold adds up to $24 million. Even after you subtract the fees taken by Steam proprietor Valve Software, the cost of building the game, and other miscellaneous business expenses, that's a very sizable chunk of cash, which Hall believes will improve his team's ability to add new features to DayZ. "We'll be finalizing our roadmap in mid January, but it is safe to say that this kind of result will be having a very positive effect on that roadmap," Hall wrote.
DayZ alpha first-week sales exceed 400,000, dev outlines update plans
It's been an eventful couple of weeks for DayZ developer Bohemia Interactive, which has provided a state of the union update on the Early Access build. After launching on December 16, DayZ has sold over 400,000 copies on Steam and saw a peak concurrent user count top out at over 40,000 players. Bohemia Interactive issued three updates to the game so far and creator Dean "Rocket" Hall even outlined plans for feature roll-outs throughout 2014. Plans are to eventually implement better anti-hacking security, introduce cooking mechanics and even give players the ability to hunt animals. In an update issued in early December, Hall called the standalone Alpha version "a platform for future development" and stressed caution for those expecting a fully-realized product when buying the Early Access version. Hall has said he is considering Xbox One and PS4 ports, though nothing has been officially announced at this time.
DayZ sells 400,000 copies in its first week of early access
The holiday season makes zombies of us all, as we lurch hither and yon through a combination of exhaustion and overeating. So it's totally understandable that you may have forgotten to really check in on the activities of DayZ's early access during the holidays. But now we're all back up and running, and it turns out the game did quite well for itself, with 400,000 copies sold during its first week of early access on Steam. The official update stresses once again that the game is still very much in an early state, and the people who purchase it should be ready to take part in the ongoing development progress rather than expecting to get a finished game. While the team has understandably been taking a bit of a break over the holiday season, the game has its immediate future already mapped out. Despite the delays, the game seems very much alive in its current state.
DayZ moves 172,000 copies in first 24 hours of early access
The standalone version of Arma II zombie survival mod DayZ, which stealthily went live via Steam's early access program earlier this week, has generated $5.1 million in its first 24 hours of availability. According to Bohemia Interactive's Maruk Spanel, DayZ moved 172,500 copies on launch day and 142,403 players were online at the time of his last update. Creator Dean Hall has been celebrating the successful launch with regular tweets on the game's sales and performance, but he took a moment to remind possible buyers that this version of DayZ is still very much a work in progress: Please do not just buy the game because you heard it was cool. Many streamers are now streaming. Visit this and view the (many) bugs first. Early access to DayZ will run you $29.99.
