Why DayZ Will Never Make it to Consoles

One of the biggest topics in the video game industry as of now is Arma II's DayZ mod that has managed to attract the attention of every major video game news outlet world wide. The mod took the idea of a zombie game and completely revolutionized the way we see it. It has recently been announced that DayZ will become it's own standalone game for PC and it really comes as no surprise, seeing as it''s become a superstar among the PC gaming community.

Yesterday, DayZ designer Dean Hall expressed his interest in bringing DayZ to consoles as well. While this has sparked excitement in fans, especially those like myself who don't have awesome gaming computers, I don't believe that a console port will come to fruition...

Mr. Hall has claimed that he's not making anyone buy the standalone game as it will be developed concurrently with the mod itself. This gives players the option to buy it if they so choose or simply play for free. The problem with this is obviously a lack of funds from the PC project. Hall has also acknowledged this and assured fans that the possibility of future ports of DayZ will rely strongly on how well the PC version is received.

You're not going to put it on the consoles if you're only going to sell 100,000 units or something like that. DayZ will be driven by its PC development and it will innovative on that. And, once we're at a point, we'll take it and do a Mac version, 360 and PS3.

Fair enough, but the issue still remains that DayZ is a very unique game is will most likely not blend well into the mainstream gaming community. Sure, it sounds cool to a lot of readers but a lot of people haven't played the game itself, which takes the expectations of a highly octane, action packed FPS and really goes in a very different direction. DayZ is a game where death is inevitable and building a strong character over the course of months is beyond a rarity. With 250 square kilometers of open world to explore, players can sometimes find themselves walking for long periods of time with not a soul to be found. It's a realistic approach to zombie survival that can lead to some extremely frustrating situations when players snipe you from a nearby building and end your game instantly or you turn a corner and hit a wall of zombies...also ending your game instantly.

While I personally enjoy DayZ and would love to see it hit the mainstream hard, I simply don't see that happening. The gaming community is a savage place; filled with those who dislike change and won't think twice before completely snapping and tearing you apart. Unless some drastic changes are made, I don't see DayZ making it off the PC continent or the gaming world. Keep in mind that these changes could also change the game into something it's not, thereby losing a lot of the stuff that made it the unsuspected success that it's become.