Dean Hall’s space survival game Ion is no more

The space game announced by the creator of DayZ at E3 2015 is no more.

Ion was proudly announced on the Microsoft E3 stage in 2015 by Dean Hall. He described it as a game that it not a game” and a universe built not on scripts or quests, but on the laws of physics, biology, and chemistry”. It was to be co-developed with Improbable and its SpatialOS engine.

So, pretty ambitious, then. And virtually nothing has been heard about the title since, despite Hall’s studio RocketWerkz releasing VR strategy title Out of Ammo and announcing a unnamed multiplayer game in the interim.

"We’re not actively working on Ion, no," Hall has now told Eurogamer, adding that RocketWerkz was no longer working with Improbable. "I am not involved in that, no. Nor is RocketWerkz studio in New Zealand. Ion could only happen with a company like Improbable, with the scale of technology like that, and that’s not a game we could do alone.

"I’d far rather people were pissed off I didn’t release something than I release something I wasn’t happy with and try to take money from them. That’s the most important thing."

A statement from Improbable confirmed: "Ion was initially conceived as a project for co-development between Improbable and RocketWerkz. A lot has changed since then. Dean Hall moved back to New Zealand from London, RocketWerkz has started work on a number of other games, and we have grown increasingly into a platform for games to be deployed on.

"We can definitely say that Improbable is not currently working on Ion. However, we have not previously commented on and cannot now comment on RocketWerkz’ current or future plans.”