Especially given the fact DayZ is a ”buggy mod for a three year old game”. The ability to apply mods to ArmA has extended the game’s life ”indefinitely.” DayZ is near a standalone release.
There’s also those little mod projects for Half-Life and Black Mesa on Valve’s Source engine. DICE’s new Battlefields aren’t exactly friendly to mods due to its design.
”We’re still coming to terms with some of things,” said Matthew Lightfoot, speaking with AusGamers. ”People are still streaming DayZ, and getting thousands of followers every night, and this is on a buggy mod for a three year old game – we just didn’t think it was going to happen.”
He’s quite outspoken against those who would try to diminish the accomplishments of the modding community.
”The exec producer on Battlefield: Bad Company said something along the lines of “modding is dead”; well we certainly buried it alive didn’t we,” he jokes. ”I loved ArmA because of the customisability: you could download a mod and get a new aircraft – there was so many mods for it, and that’s what kept me playing. I’ve sunk thousands of hours into ArmA before DayZ even came about, and it expanded the lifecycle of the game indefinitely.”
”So I certainly don’t think modding is dead. When you look at Half-Life and Black Mesa on the Source Engine, these things are huge games. So I don’t think it’s likely to die in the foreseeable future.”
Valve’s recent eSports champion DOTA 2 is of course born from the tremendous success of a mod created for Blizzard’s Warcraft 3 of the same name. It created a whole new genre that’s exploded in popularity.
DICE’s Patrick Bach had said: ”We’ve seen some cool mods but since games are getting more complicated to build, it’s also getting more complicated to mod them, so it’s a declining trend as we see it. Sad but true.”
DayZ will release as a full standalone game this year first releasing in alpha form at a cheaper price.
