DayZ lead developer leaves Bohemia after this year

Dean Hall, the lead developer behind the DayZ mod for shooting game ArmA II and the standalone version of DayZ still in development, has announced that development studio Bohemia Interactive will be saying goodbye to it after this year. He returns to New Zealand.

Dean Hall is DayZ’s lead developer and will remain so for some time to come. Hall intends to terminate his employment with Bohemia Interactive at the end of 2014. The developer indicated in an interview with Eurogamer that it would not be fair to Bohemia if he suddenly resigned. Since he has always intended to return to his native New Zealand, he has decided to announce his departure now.

Hall joined Bohemia Interactive after creating the DayZ mod for ArmA II, which was created by the Czech studio. The success of the mod, which challenges the player to survive during a zombie apocalypse, earned him a contract with Bohemia, where he leads the development team now working on the standalone version of DayZ. The alpha version of the game is already available for purchase through Steam, and will also give consumers instant access to the final version as it becomes available.

Once Hall and Bohemia have completed the development of DayZ, Hall may continue to be involved in the project in the background. The developer doesn’t think he can just let go of the game. Despite this, Hall will mainly focus in New Zealand on his own, newly established studio with which he wants to make the ‘perfect multiplayer game’.