Open-world zombie survival game DayZ has sold over three million copies since launch in December 2013, according to developer Bohemia Interactive. It sold one million copies during its first month on sale, and passed the two million mark during its first four months. Those are impressive numbers for any game, let alone one that spawned from a user-generated mod and is still in the alpha stage of development.
But DayZ (and its me-too competitors, The War Z and Rust) is one of the only places for gamers to fend for themselves in a lawless, digital world. Players are tossed into an abandoned wilderness with few supplies and are left to their devices to find a way to survive through unpredictable encounters with other desperate survivors. Sure, it's rough around the edges, but that clearly hasn't stopped gamers from ponying up nearly $30 to buy the unfinished game. No one knows if the title will ever be completed, but the developers are aiming for a beta release in the fourth quarter of this year.
Comments
Dayz is one of the few games worth it right now. If you have a couple of friends its really cool to party up and discover the world while trying to avoid getting killed. Its really hardcore and ive been playing it occasionally since it was still a buggy mod.
Right now its quite playable yet there are lots of performance issues and many things to be implemented.
I hope that one day it will be completely finished.
Problem with this business model where a cool idea gets tought up and then early acces released is that its being exploited to hell. Its no longer about getting funding to pay for development. Many "game develeopers" just think up a cool appealing idea and make some cool fake screenshots / concepts and then release a buggy pre alpha shitfest justifying asking 20$ for a unplayable mess by pointing to the "early acces" logo.
Rust was pure crap at first (is now very playable and enjoyable) and dayz is getting new features added every week.
Many other developers see it as a easy cash grab.
By Luuk van Riel on 01.25.15 11:59am
Only as long as people keep going along with damn Early Access. If people keep paying for unfinished shit then developers will keep selling it.
By Tikigawd on 01.26.15 3:04pm
750+ hours into it and I love it.
By the way, I could have supplied a much prettier screenshot than the one you’ve got above and I play on a 4-year-old Macbook Pro :p
By Tatanko on 01.25.15 12:24pm
It’s available for mac? I’ve wanted to play this forever!
By Phrankel on 01.27.15 6:44pm
Sorry, but nope :( I run Windows 7 via Boot Camp to play this. I think eventually they plan on a Mac version, but it will probably be at least a year.
By Tatanko on 01.31.15 4:14pm
Too expensive and slow slow development. H1Z1 is only a week and a half old but is very playable. It gets updates everyday and is cheaper too.
By SIJ on 01.25.15 12:42pm
Probably because Sony is making it…
By King Jamaican on 01.25.15 1:09pm
Yeah but so? The result is still faster development. It doesn’t matter who makes it. H1Z1 graphics are basic now but it will get better soon I believe it is the PS 2 engine.
By SIJ on 01.25.15 3:05pm
H1Z1’s graphics will stay relatively basic until they finish the DirectX 11 updates to Forgelight. They keep getting delayed, but are most likely bundled in the PS4 port for Planetside 2. Having the Legacy DirectX 9 users on a F2P platform is probably a must though.
By templarian on 01.25.15 4:14pm
Agreed. H1Z1 is quite fun. Here’s to them figuring out the loot situation!
By tupz on 01.26.15 8:48am
Graphics from H1Z1 cannot compare to DayZ right now. (Even thou DayZ graphics will get more stable engine / graphics updates till release).
By dbm_ on 01.25.15 1:20pm
It’s been hell the past few months with some of the cheating, but it’s still one of the best open world experiences I’ve had in years. Love this game. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld3puZXshCs
By mojojojo42 on 01.25.15 1:36pm
I love the idea of true open world gaming but feel that it should include the ability to eke out a meager existence as a hermit in a remote uninhabited corner of the game world. Tho not necessarily a good strategy it should be an option.
Do any of these games mentioned allow for such an experience?
By Rico Booz on 01.25.15 1:52pm
DayZ allows for hermit living. Hunting, fishing, crafting, etc. far away from any town or city. Just u and ur sleeping tents.
By mojojojo42 on 01.25.15 1:58pm
Yeah Dayz does it and H1z1 is limited as of now. They will add fishing and a much larger map – rumor has it that it will be the size of US…I call BS on that but still it should be big.
By SIJ on 01.25.15 3:06pm
No one knows? I’m pretty sure the developers have a trajectory on when they would like to have 1.0 complete.
By stillmotion on 01.25.15 2:00pm
With the amount of (and length of) delays this game has had, I honestly question that.
Still fun though. Just also still a little buggy.
By caspar347 on 01.25.15 7:26pm
Didn’t Minecraft sold more than that before it’s official release?
By 1singur on 01.25.15 2:34pm
No game compares to Minecraft.
By The_Falcoholic on 01.25.15 7:05pm
Minecraft is the Alterlife!
By 1singur on 01.30.15 6:19pm
I’ve been having a blast on 7 Days do Die.
Multiplayer, going on raids on towns is fun as hell, especially when you get caught short.
These zombie survival horror MP games sure do offer some dystopian fun.
Nice to see DayZ doing so well.
By Chaz_UK on 01.25.15 3:24pm
Both games are awesome!
By caspar347 on 01.25.15 7:28pm
Glad I didn’t buy into the standalone early. I’ve been playing Arma3 Epoch Chernarus which has a currency system, base building and missions. Not as survival based as DayZ, with only a few infected (at the moment) but incredibly entertaining, much more stable and better graphically thanks to the Arma3 engine. I’m actually suprised the mod is in beta, considering the level of polish and detail it has.
By squiz on 01.25.15 5:22pm
It hasn’t sold the 3m copies while still being in development. It has sold 3m copies, because it’s in a continuous development, carefully listening to the feedback.
By justnorris on 01.26.15 4:22am
Yeah right, thankfully to their amazing developement it still runs crappy and they added like 10 things?
But its ok because after 1 lazy year it still is ‘pre-alpha’. Seriously as if this will ever ‘release’. Calling it an alpha isn’t much more than a fad to justify their total lack of investment into development.
By Onexy on 01.26.15 4:44am