DayZ
DayZ: The Game That Almost Pulled an NFT Rug Pull Before NFTs Existed
This article talks shit about DayZ, the game that promised players a gritty, hardcore survival experience but instead delivered a decades-long existential crisis wrapped in a development cycle slower than evolution itself. A game that took so long to crawl out of Early Access that by the time it did, entire new genres had been invented, lived full lifespans, and died of old age.
The Origin Story: A Military Brainstorm Gone Too Far
Dean Hall, the genius (citation needed) behind DayZ, got the idea for this game during his military survival training. That’s right—he went through some grueling, government-funded, near-death experience and thought, "Hey, you know what would be fun? Making gamers feel this exact same suffering, but with extra lag." And thus, DayZ was born, first as an ArmA 2 mod in 2012. It was raw, it was janky, but damn it, it was fun.
And I, like many others, jumped on board. Not by buying ArmA 2, of course—no, I pirated that thing faster than a Russian tracker site could update their torrents. I played DayZ for exactly one day, said “what the hell is this jank?” and never came back. But then, the announcement came: DayZ was going standalone! A real game! With funding!
And that’s when it all went downhill.
The Standalone Disaster: Less Features, More Delays, Maximum Disappointment
Bohemia Interactive, known for their brilliant (also citation needed) track record in game optimization, decided to take DayZ and turn it into a separate game. A fresh start, a new vision! And by “new vision,” I mean a game with fewer features than the mod it was based on. Imagine serving someone a full-course meal, then taking away half the plates and charging them again for the same food.
It took six years for the game to even pretend to be finished. In those six years, we got fewer updates than a dead phone on 1% battery. Even when DayZ finally left Early Access in 2018, it still felt like a beta. The gameplay was clunky, the melee combat felt like trying to fistfight with pool noodles, and don’t even get me started on the gunplay.
Dean Hall's Grand Escape: How to Pull a Reverse Heist
Not long after the standalone release, Dean Hall, the mastermind behind the game, bailed. Just dipped. Vanished like a loot crate in an overpopulated server. He went from DayZ visionary to New Zealand’s problem, all while leaving Bohemia Interactive to deal with the zombie-infested mess he left behind. The game was abandoned faster than a fresh spawn with a glow stick.
Meanwhile, Bohemia kept "developing" DayZ, which in their dictionary meant adding random guns and charging players for a DLC map. That’s right—the 1.06 update introduced a new map, Livonia, and tried to charge early supporters $30 for it. Because what better way to reward your most loyal fans than by making them pay again for an experience they’ve been suffering through for years?
Combat: Where Your Worst Enemy is the Server
You’d think after all this time, they’d fix the combat. You’d be wrong. Here’s how a DayZ firefight actually plays out:
- Spot an enemy.
- Try to aim. Your gun moves like it's been coated in molasses.
- Fire a shot. The bullet takes a road trip before reaching its destination.
- Enemy shoots back. You die instantly.
- Realize the bullet that killed you was actually fired three servers ago, back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.
Yes, I might be exaggerating slightly (I’m not), but for a game that’s all about survival, you’d think the biggest challenge wouldn’t be fighting the netcode. The desync, the lag, the clunky movement—these aren’t features, they’re bugs that have become honorary mechanics at this point.
Would I Buy This Game? No. Am I Glad I Didn’t? Yes.
Despite everything, DayZ has somehow built a dedicated fanbase. People who enjoy roleplaying, people who enjoy hardcore survival mechanics, and people who just love punishing themselves. That’s great for them! But for the rest of us, DayZ remains a monument to what happens when a developer gets too ambitious, realizes game development is hard, and pulls an Irish Goodbye.
Would I ever give it another shot? Probably not. But if you like janky survival experiences, dealing with server roulette, and playing a game that fights against you as much as the zombies do, then DayZ is still out there, waiting.
Just don’t expect it to ever feel finished.
Why DayZ Succeeded as a Mod but Failed as a Game
DayZ was a cultural phenomenon when it first appeared as a mod for ArmA 2 in 2012. It brought something new to the table: a truly brutal survival experience where the biggest threat wasn’t the zombies—it was other players. Back then, games like Rust, Escape from Tarkov, and The Forest didn’t exist yet, so this was the closest thing to a true apocalyptic survival sandbox. The DayZ Mod thrived because:
- It was built on an existing engine (Real Virtuality 3) with an established community – The Arma series already had a dedicated player base, and the mod tapped into that ecosystem.
- It was free (if you already owned ArmA 2), making it accessible to millions – A lot of people, myself included, pirated ArmA 2 just to play DayZ, which boosted its player numbers.
- It had an emergent gameplay loop that encouraged social interactions (and betrayals) – The raw, unscripted player interactions made every session unique.
- It was constantly updated by a passionate community – The modders were engaged and actively adding content, which kept it fresh.
But when DayZ Standalone came along, all of that disappeared.
The Death March of DayZ Standalone
Instead of evolving from the mod, the standalone version of DayZ regressed in every possible way. Here’s why:
1. Early Access Hell: 9 Years in the Oven, Still Undercooked
DayZ entered Early Access in 2013 and didn't officially "release" until December 2018. That’s five whole years where the game was in an unfinished, broken state. And even after release, it took another four years of post-launch updates before it resembled a complete game.
2. Missing Features and Slow Updates
When it launched in early access, DayZ Standalone had fewer features than the mod, which was like serving customers an empty burger bun and promising to add the meat later. Features like:
✅ Base building? Missing
✅ Vehicles? Missing
✅ Mod support? Missing
✅ Melee combat that didn’t feel like slapping a zombie with a wet noodle? Missing
Updates were agonizingly slow because Bohemia Interactive was rewriting the entire game engine. This meant features had to be redeveloped from scratch, delaying every single aspect of progress.
3. Dean Hall’s Great Escape: Take the Money and Run
Dean Hall had a "vision", but that vision apparently didn’t involve actually finishing the game.
- DayZ Standalone sold over 1 million copies within its first month.
- Dean Hall quit Bohemia Interactive in 2014, barely a year into Early Access.
- He went on to start his own studio, RocketWerkz, and never looked back.
It's almost like he saw that DayZ had made enough money, realized how much work it would take to finish it, and bailed with his pockets full. This left the remaining team scrambling to piece the game together for the next eight years.
4. Overpriced Even in 2025
Despite spending years in Early Access and having some of the slowest updates in gaming history, DayZ somehow never dropped its price to reasonable levels.
- In 2013, it launched in Early Access for $30.
- By 2018, it was fully released at $40.
- After the Livonia DLC, Bohemia Interactive raised the price to $49.99.
Even during Steam sales, DayZ almost never drops below $20.
Why? Because you're paying $35 for the engine and $5 for the game itself.
Bohemia Interactive had spent so much time rewriting their proprietary engine (Enfusion) just to make DayZ work that they needed to recoup those costs. So instead of selling the game for a fair price, they just kept charging players full price for an incomplete, buggy survival simulator.
DayZ Wasn’t the First (Or Last) Early Access Exit Scam
This "Take the Money and Run" strategy isn’t exclusive to DayZ. Other Early Access games have done the same:
BattleBit Remastered: The DayZ of 2024
BattleBit Remastered—a low-poly Battlefield-style shooter—had a massive early access launch in 2023. It sold millions of copies at $15 per unit and became a breakout hit. But as soon as the devs secured the bag, they slowed down development and eventually abandoned the game, leaving players with broken balance, hackers, and a dwindling player base.
It's the same playbook:
- Launch in Early Access
- Make tons of money from hyped-up players
- Provide minimal updates
- Disappear
Bohemia Interactive was just ahead of its time in this scam.
Final Thoughts: DayZ, The Forever Unfinished Game
DayZ could have been a legendary franchise if handled properly. Instead, it became:
- A glorified engine showcase that players had to pay for.
- A masterclass in how not to handle Early Access development.
- A prime example of a developer selling a dream, then bailing the moment they cashed in.
And yet, despite everything, DayZ is still here, charging $50 in 2025, refusing to go on sale, and somehow still attracting players who willingly subject themselves to its cruel, glitch-filled world.
Would I buy DayZ? No.
Am I glad I didn’t? Absolutely.
