The VergeThe Verge logo.The Verge homepage
The VergeThe Verge logo.
Skip to main content

'DayZ' creator Dean Hall steps down, plans to start his own game studio

'DayZ' creator Dean Hall steps down, plans to start his own game studio

By Sean Hollister, a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.

Source Eurogamer and Polygon

Share this story

dayz
dayz

Dean Hall rose to fame when he built DayZ, a game that forces players to survive in a cruel, broken world. So perhaps it's fitting that Hall himself is going it alone once more. Today, Hall told Eurogamer that he's stepping down as leader of the DayZ project, and he's leaving the game studio, Bohemia Interactive, which hired him to make a game out of his original mod.

"I am a grenade."

Given that Hall dreamt of becoming a game developer and DayZ is still woefully incomplete, why leave it behind now? Eurogamer has a full interview about the particulars, including his belief that he can't stop arguing with the development team — "I am a grenade," says Hall — and his desire to return to his native New Zealand. Whatever the reasons though, Hall says his days as a game developer aren't over, not even where DayZ is concerned. Though he feels that "DayZ is a fundamentally flawed concept," he plans to stay available to the game's development team as long as he is needed, according to Polygon. And, after he returns to New Zealand, he hopes to start a new game studio of his own. He already has three new ready game ideas, according to Eurogamer, and hopes to build an even more compelling multiplayer game than DayZ after he arrives home.

More from Gaming