'DayZ' Standalone Week One Sales Surpass 400,000

Zombie survival horror game “DayZ” reached more than 400,000 users during the first week of its Steam Early Access sale on Dec. 16. The title recruited 19,000 users during the first hour of its release and 172,500 subscribers after 24 hours.

The “DayZ” standalone game started development in August 2012 following the popularity of the original mod. Game designer Dean Hall, 32, teamed up with Bohemia Interactive and embarked upon his role as project lead. During the game's early development, Hall posted a raw video clip of the game’s multiplayer mode to YouTube, warning viewers that the footage “makes no effort to mask the variety of bugs.” Hall has also talked about moving the game to next-gen consoles like the PS4 or Xbox One, although no specific date has been set for either system.

“DayZ” is an open-world, multiplayer zombie game, where players must survive during a zombie apocalypse in a 225 sq. km. environment. The objective of the title is to search for health items such as food, supplies and medicine. You can also select weapons to fight off hungry zombies and other players. Developers plan to allow bases for supply protection, with the possibility of creating player-operated radio stations and two-way radio abilities.

Though the alpha version of the game still contained a number of glitches, fans were eager to buy. Hall openly alerted gamers about the rawness of the title, saying “it’s a true-blue alpha. Massive areas of the engine were entirely reworked, involving a large team of people over the last 12 months. Much of what these achievements will enable won’t be seen for many months – so I really plead for anyone who is on the fence to take a skeptical approach – watch streams, read reviews, watch some let’s play and form your opinion. You could always come back to the game in three, six months’ time and buy it then.” He also added that "we strongly advise you not to buy and play the game at this stage unless you clearly understand what Early Access means and are interested in participating in the ongoing development cycle." Despite this, gamers are clamoring to play the title, leaving favorable reviews on its user forum.

“DayZ” is available for $30 on Steam. Have you played the zombie survival game? What types of bugs and glitches have you encountered? Leave a comment below.

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