The creator of the overnight success DayZ will be stepping down from it’s developer studio Bohemia Interactive, EuroGamer has confirmed.
Speaking to EuroGamer.net, Dean Hall said he will leave that studio by the end of this year to create his own studio in his home country of New Zealand, intending on creating a new multiplayer game.
Bohemia Interactive will continue developing DayZ going forward.
“I never intended to be here,” said Hall, referring to staying to staying in Prague where Bohemia Interactive is based. “And it’s kind of like cooking in someone else’s kitchen: I don’t want to be constantly telling Bohemia that this is how I do it and this is the way we do it.”
Hall, whilst stating that he won’t change his mind on leaving, says he will remain involved with Bohemia as long as the studio needs him.
“Originally I wasn’t going to do this year, but it would be stupid not to, and it would be unfair to the community. I have to be on the project as long as it’s important to. Whether that role is as the leader, whether that role is in a more creative sense… But at a certain point there will be diminishing returns.
“The thing is, if I’m involved in the project, I’ll be fighting anybody on the project to make sure it’s good, so for the rest of the year, I’m there. And I don’t just sit around; it doesn’t matter if I’m the cleaner or the leader or whatever, I will be making sure – I will be in Marek’s [Spanel, CEO] office yelling at him. I’m notorious for it.”
With three game ideas written already, and another two needing more work, he said he intends on ‘chasing the perfect multiplayer experience’.
Describing the projects, he said: “A lot of them have similar DNA [to DayZ] … I feel like DayZ is a fundamentally flawed concept and I’ve always recognised that. It’s not the perfect game; it’s not the multiplayer experience, and it never can be, [with] the absolute spark that I want in it.”
DayZ, which originally launched as a MOD for ARMA 2 but was released as a standalone in December due to popular demand, has become one of the most popular PC games since its launch, selling over 400,000 copies during its first week, rocketing past 800,000 copies by its third week and breaking 1 million copies by its fourth week.
It currently holds more than 1.5 million players.