DayZ could be standalone "before Christmas," base-building and more on cards

DayZ creator Dean Hall has told VG247 that significant improvements should be made to the mod before it goes standalone, but that work on a new version could be complete this year.

Hall is still working out a deal to get the ArmA II mod out to retail as a separate product, and is aware that there's plenty of work to do on the undead survival phenomenon before people will be willing to hand over cash.

“I want to see it become a standalone game, following the Minecraft model of a low price point, but that will only work if we say that everyone is going to pay," Hall told VG247.

"In order for people to not feel ripped off we need to have a load of new content; so, things like base-building, tidying and cleaning up animations and add ragdoll physics as the like.”

Hall’s optimistic that the necessary work could be achieved in the next few months and “certainly before Christmas,” provided that an agreement can be reached, either with Bohemia Interactive or another company.

Hall said he’s already had some offers of investment, but that they’ve been based on DayZ’s impressive numbers - the mod is approaching 1 million unique players - rather than an understanding of its mechanics.

Hall told Beefjack in early July that it's a "certainty" that DayZ will go standalone.