Arma 2 Mod DayZ on "Borrowed Time" Could Become Paid Standalone Game By Christmas
By Mike Sharkey | Jul 24, 2012
Mod's creator seeks financial backers with understanding of DayZ's core.
DayZ, the Arma 2 zombie survival mod that continues to keep Bohemia Interactive's three-year-old military shooter at the top of the Steam sales charts, is living on "borrowed time." Those are the words of designer Dean Hall, who says he won't be able to dedicate the time and effort needed to accommodate DayZ's nearly 1-million strong and growing community for much longer. In order to survive, it must evolve into a paid, standalone game, something Hall says he believes can happen within the next few months.
In an interview with VG247, Hall said he is working to reach an agreement with Bohemia Interactive and has already received offers of investment to help make DayZ a standalone. But the clock is ticking.
"We're really on borrowed time," Hall told VG247. "I want to see it become a standalone game, following the Minecraft model of a low price point, but that will only work if we say that everyone is going to pay, and in order for people to not feel ripped off we need to have a load of new content; so, things like base-building, tidying and cleaning up animations and add rag-doll physics and the like."
Hall said that, with financial backing, he could add the required elements and make the DayZ transition in a few months and "certainly before Christmas." And his head appears to be in the right place about the entire thing. Hall said that investment offers he has received up to this point have been based on DayZ's huge player numbers and not an understanding of what makes the mod so special. In other words, Hall isn't selling out, and that's great news for DayZ fans that hope to see the mod not just survive, but evolve and grow.
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