The long-running zombie game, DayZ, is currently embroiled in a review bombing campaign on Steam following the release of a $27 DLC deemed “too expensive” by disgruntled players.
DayZ Frostline launched in October and retailed for $26.99. The add-on adds a modern snow-covered map called Sakhal, which covers an area of 83 km² (not including ice caps). Ahead of us is a winter wilderness full of modern challenges and survival opportunities. “Get ready for a truly immersive adventure where the environment itself is as much your enemy as the infected and other survivors,” reads developer Bohemia Interactive’s description.
DayZ players, however, reacted negatively to Frostline’s price, with Steam user reviews saying it was “not worth the price.”
“…Sakhal has SOME nice things about it, but is absolutely NOT worth the asking price at this time,” reads one negative review. “Perhaps over time they will add more interesting features to the map to justify its existence, but currently you can get much better maps for free and Bohemia knows it. If you really want to experience an adventure in a frozen hell, play Namalsk. But if you play DayZ on PC, I’m sure you’ve already done this.”
Frostline’s recent reviews are currently enjoying a terrifying “mostly negative” user rating on Steam, something Bohemia boss Marek Spanel clearly disagrees with. In tweetSpanel revealed that the Czech studio receives less than 10 cents for every hour of live online gaming recorded by DayZ since the game’s launch over a decade ago, when taking into account the average number of hours spent playing and the dollars spent by the game’s eight million users.
“However, DayZ Frostline is currently being bombarded with reviews on the same platform because it is too expensive: $26.99 for ‘just the map’ and some users are demanding ‘give me more for less money,'” Spanel continued.
“Hmm. Please, please me.”
Did you know that the 8 million users we have data for on Steam played an average of 188 hours and paid an average of $30 gross on #Day? This means we received less than 10 cents per hour for live online gaming where we host the online infrastructure and… pic.twitter.com/zOMQNvEPtq
— Marek Spanel (@maruksp) November 26, 2024
The last line is a reference to the Beatles song “Please Please Me”, which contains the lyrics: “I don’t want it to sound like I’m complaining, but you know that in my heart (in my heart) it’s always raining. I do everything that feels good. with you. It’s so hard to reason with you. Whoa, yeah, why are you making me sad?”
Further responding to X/Twitter users, Spanel said, “no one is forcing anyone to buy DayZ Frostline; the base game still works for all users.”
The official DayZ account was perhaps a little more diplomatic, quoting Spanel’s original Twitter post say that he listens to opinions.
“And let’s not forget our amazing modding community – and yes, they have plenty of free maps to keep you busy if you’re not quite ready to join the humans in the frosty Sakhal!” Czech added.
Continuing to update DayZ, Bohemia is also working on Arma 4, which recently received a release window.
Wesley is the UK news editor at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. Wesley can be reached at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wy100@proton.me.
