DayZ was supposed to release late last year. Obviously, that didn’t happen, but the dev team has a good reason for the delay: they wanted to make the game even better. The developer posted an update on their blog, saying “Put simply, DayZ Standalone isn’t here because we had the chance to go from making a game that was just the mod improved slightly, packaged simply, and sold – to actually redeveloping the engine and making the game the way we all dreamed it could be. This blew any initial plans we had dictated to pieces.” More after the jump.

The next step is to hold a closed test so they can make sure the game can handle many players at once. “The plan from here is straightforward. We will be releasing a closed test imminently, during which approximately 500-1000 people will assist in ensuring our architecture is correctly functioning. This closed test will be focused purely on architecture, not the game design. Once we have confirmed fixes for issues arising from the closed test, we will then reschedule an internal date for our public release.”

Unfortunately, the imprisonment of one of their lead architects, Ivan Buchta, has slowed development of the Chernarus map. Hopefully his situation is resolved soon.

So the game is taking a little longer than they expected, but that’s because they’re working on a complete overhaul of the game’s engine and features. I think that’s a solid reason to delay a game, don’t you?

Have a question? Feel free to ever-so-gently toss Adam an email, or follow him on Twitter and Bloody Disgusting.