The survival game DayZ breaks its own player record on Steam for the first time in around 8 years, which it set on the day of its release in 2013. So it shot into the top 20 most played games on Steam for a short time! But why are more and more players playing DayZ right now?
DayZ’s player numbers are exploding on the PC. The survival game has already left its own record behind. The record was only beaten yesterday by 1000 simultaneous players – not much do you think?
DayZ player numbers over the years
- 2013: 45,000 players
- 2015: 10,000 players
- 2016: 6,000 players
- 2018: 3,500 players
- 2019: 15,000 players
- 2021: 46,000 players
That’s why so many players are returning to DayZ
What caused the loss of players? In recent years, more and more players have turned their backs on DayZ. Who can blame them too? After all, the development of the game stood still for years and even had to be “restarted” with a new engine in 2018.
Features that existed years in advance were missing. Since the release, the community has wanted a helicopter – but nothing. Updates got smaller and smaller, and players had to get by for months at a time without new content and with bugged servers. One important thing was missing: modding and content from the community.
Modding brought players back: in 2019 developer Bohemia Interactive fulfilled the most significant milestone in the development of DayZ. For the first time, the community was able to create its own content and share it with thousands of other players via the Steam workshop.
If you look at the Steam charts again (via steamdb.info), this is directly reflected in the increase in the number of players: First 3,000 became 10,000, then 20,000 and currently 46,000 players.
That is more than the DayZ standalone could ever combine at the same time. More than the record of 45,000 players that the game set when it was released in 2013.
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Where is DayZ headed? More players, more content?
Whether you think the future of DayZ is bright or bleak is probably up to your expectations. The developers’ current plan does not include any rocket launches for new content. Even helicopters are still nowhere to be seen on the horizon.
Thus, the following years will also be rather unexciting for gamers on the consoles. Meanwhile, the PC community is growing thanks to hundreds of mods for vehicles, helicopters, boats, weapons, equipment, base construction and mission systems.
Roadmap for DayZ
- 4 to 5 major updates per year (see update 1.15)
- Seasonal events (Halloween, Walpurgis Night, Christmas, Easter, etc.)
- Minor hotfixes
- Stability updates
