DayZ console prototype delayed until next year

The long wait for the arrival of DayZ on consoles just got a bit longer.

"Alright everyone, let’s make this news stand out a bit: DayZ won’t hit the Xbox Game Preview program this year,” developer Bohemia has now said.The main focus of the DayZ team is the PC version, while a first console prototype is expected in Q1 2016."

As long ago as April 2013 creator Dean Hall was touting a console version of the still in-development PC zombie survival hit. In June last year Hall then hinted that the game could hit consoles before the end of 2014.

Fast forward to 2015 and Microsoft confirmed in June that the game is coming to Xbox One as an Xbox Game Preview title, which allows gamers to buy in-development titles in the same way as Steam Early Access does. The game was also announced for PS4.

A console prototype was then pencilled in for Q3 2015.

MCV crowned DayZ as the real winner of the Christmas 203 race following its 1m sales within a month of hitting Early Access. A year later the game hit 3m copies sold. However, so protracted has its development become that it appears to be struggling to keep pace with up and coming rivals such as Daybreak’s H1Z1.

The main focus of the @dayzdevteam is the PC version, while a first console prototype is expected in Q1 2016 – https://t.co/bKFhHa6mK1

— Bohemia Interactive (@bohemiainteract) November 4, 2015