DayZ sales figures, new studio acquisition revealed

UPDATE 28/03/2014 23:50 GMT: Bohemia has been in touch to clarify that its new subsidiary Bohemia Interactive Slovakia, the existence of which was detailed in Dean Hall's EGX Rezzed presentation, is a new studio built around former staff, facilities and technologies of Cauldron rather than a full-on acquisition of Cauldron.

"In 2013, Bohemia Interactive opened a new studio in Bratislava, Slovakia - as part of the Czech company's portfolio of next-generation game development studios," it said. "The new studio is composed by former recruits from the successful Slovak studio Cauldron, and has acquired selected Cauldron's facilities and technologies."

ORIGINAL STORY: DayZ creator Dean Hall has revealed that the game has now shifted more than 2m copies of the game's original Arma 2 mod and sold 1.7m copies of the standalone package.

Speaking live on stage at EGX Rezzed 2014, Hall also revealed that Bohemia had purchased a new development team - Cauldron Studios, now Bohemia Interactive Slovakia - whose 25 staff members would be dedicated to the game.

Hall spent the remainder of his presentation laying out a detailed roadmap of the game's updates for 2014. It was the first time that Hall had mentioned the roadmap anywhere, he said, not even to the game's team or to the boss of Bohemia Interactive.

The next update will come by the end of April, Hall promised, perhaps in the next two weeks if development continued smoothly. Included will be a prototype method for allowing loot to respawn within a server, as well as fireplaces for cooking (upgradable to ovens for baking bread) and a crossbow.

Loot will respawn in a particular quadrant of the world after it is empty for a certain amount of time, Hall said, so that players who join can still find items. Doors will also reset.

On the server side, the update will allow for a speedier delivery of future updates and improved messaging between the game's server and your PC. It'll also remove penalties for joining the same server.

Options for server admins to accelerate time (up to 64x faster than real-time) and throwable items - anything that can be held - will also be added.

Looking a little further ahead, the game will be expanded with a new pistol, ragdoll physics and improved AI pathfinding, Hall continued. Physics will come into play when your character falls, or if you drag unconscious or dead bodies.

An upgrade to 64-bit is also in the works, which will allow the game's server to use more memory, something that will future proof the game and help with the new physics integration and new zombie AI, and vehicle physics.

Prototype animals for hunting - six new types in total - are also on the way, as are advanced weather effects such as snow and fog and new container items such as fridges, ovens and cupboards.

Looking ahead to Q3 2014, Hall said that AK47s and yet more animals were coming. Hostile and neutral creatures and companion animals such as dogs and horses are on the cards, while new zombie behaviour will be designed to better develop the existing aggro system.

Physics-based barricading based on current buildings' doors and windows and persistent to your server is also on the list of upcoming features, as too are small vehicles such as bicycles, motorbikes, quadbikes and small cars. These will be customisable and configurable, with the possibility of adding weapons.

Hall hopes to also include modding support, Steam Workshop integration and achievements during this time. A horticulture system for planting and harvesting crops is also in the works, although may appear sooner.

Looking ahead to Q4 "and beyond", Hall said that full-sized cars, trucks, planes, helicopters and boats were on the list of additions to be added later. Advanced vehicles will be "end game" items, and parts may need players to search multiple servers to fully construct.