DayZ Creator Leaving Bohemia, Plans for New Dev Team

DayZ creator Dean Hall will be leaving both Bohemia Interactive and the project to focus on forming a new studio and chasing the “ultimate multiplayer experience”. After phenomenal success since the launch of the alpha on Steam Early Access, DayZ will be left in the hands of the original development team at Bohemia Interactive.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Hall stated that, “I am a grenade. I have a specific use. I’m really good at risk-taking and making other people take risks, I’ve always been good at that in my life. Like you say, maybe I’ve got the gift of the gab, so I can talk, I can explain something, I can talk people up to the ledge and get them to jump off it.

“That’s what I did with DayZ; I’ve done it twice now [once with the mod, again with the standalone] – two new code teams have separately done it. But eventually, that’s the bad person to have. Eventually, you don’t want the guy telling you to go over the top and get through. So at some point I’ll be a disaster for the project, at least in a leadership role.

“I never intended to be here. 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.

“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.”

What are your thoughts on DayZ going forward without Hall? Let us know in the comments.