DayZ Alpha Sells 700,000+ Copies in December

Although the Christmas Day update on the official DayZ development blog only cites 400,000 sales, these represent the first week on Steam alone. Recent survivor statistics on dayzgame.com reveal that the game has sold over 700,000 copies, priced at £20 each.

By my calculations (and admittedly, I have the poorest maths skills of any computer scientist you’re likely to meet), that’s £14 million earned in two weeks, minus taxes and Valve’s cut. Not bad for a title that hasn’t even left alpha state yet.

DayZ first made waves earlier last year when it was released as a mod for realistic first-person-shooter ARMA II, proving so popular that it pushed the game back into Steam’s top sellers list.

The game, now available as a stand-alone early access alpha, invites players into a persistent, online multiplayer environment to take part in a zombie apocalypse. As supplies are limited and death is permanent, the real threat is often (as in the source material that inspired DayZ) other people, who may turn on you at any point.

Prospective survivors should understand that the alpha is far from finished, however. Maruk, a developer on the game at Bohemia Interactive, addresses this on the official DayZ tumblr: “Please be aware that our Early Access offer is a representation of our core pillars, and the framework we have created around them. It is a work in progress and therefore contains a variety of bugs. We strongly advise you not to buy and play the game at this stage unless you clearly understand what Early Access means and are interested in participating in the ongoing development cycle.”