After rocketing out of the gates as part ofSteam’s Early Access program four years ago,DayZhas been down a very long road just to get to a beta version of the popular zombie survival game. With the game expected to hit consoles at some point and a beta version promised for PC players earlier this year, Bohemia Interactive is finally ready to reveal new details on its plans for the game.
In a blog post updating fans on the state of the game and the developer’s plans for 2017 and beyond, Bohemia confirmed that it is planning to bringDayZto consoles starting with the Xbox One. Responding to a fan on Twitter, the developer confirmed that the main reason for this is due to the fact that the Xbox One has a game preview feature that is similar to Steam’s Early Access program, while Sony doesn’t have a similar program for the developer to use.
The developer also revealed that the long-promised beta version for PC isn’t coming in the remaining weeks of 2017. Instead, the developer is working on getting update 0.63 ready for 2018, because once it goes live, the game will officially be out of Early Access on Steam.
2018 is going to be an important year for us in the studio, as our long-term work finally makes its way out there. We sure take our time, but I truly believe people only remember great games, and not how long it took to make them.
While the news may be somewhat disappointing for longtime fans, the studio promises that it will be worth the wait as thebeta adds a wide variety of changes and updatesto theDayZexperience. From a content perspective, the beta version adds new zombies to the experience as well as an overhauled system for melee and ranged combat, reworked animations, updated maps, and more. Players will also be getting a new damage and hitbox system, as well as more network stability.
DayZis available now in Early Access on Steam and launches for Xbox One in 2018.
