DayZ Set for PS4 but May Skip Xbox One Due to Microsoft’s Restrictions

The standalone version of DayZ, originally a mod for Arma 2, may not be released on Xbox One due to Microsoft's restrictions around publishing and game patching. 

DayZ is set to be released on PC and next-gen consoles but developer Dean Hall has told Edge it might skip Microsoft's console.

"We're happy to see DayZ on any console but there is a… I guess one problem," he said. "The console needs to not charge for us to do updates and it needs to be indie friendly."

Earlier this year Sony's Adam Boyes revealed that the company had dropped game patch fees and Hall says "As far as I'm aware, Microsoft is [charging]. Sony's not. And Sony allows you to self-publish. But who knows? Maybe Microsoft will change. From our perspective, we need self-publishing because DayZ would be a great digital download title."

Hall added that there are a lot of bugs in DayZ making Sony's policy of waiving game patch fees preferable "It's gonna take a long time for us to be able to iron this out and we don't wanna have to be paying ten, twenty thousand dollars – whatever it is – every time we wanna do an update."

His comments match those of Phil Fish who refused to patch Fez on XBLA last year because "Microsoft would charge us tens of thousands of dollars". 

Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty, which was showcased at Sony's pre-E3 media briefing this week, will also bypass Xbox 360 and Xbox One because of Microsoft's publisher requirement. 

Developer Lorne Lanning of Oddworld Inhabitants – who helped launch the first Xbox in 2001 with the exclusive Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee – slammed Microsoft's policies in a Eurogamer interview asking "Why do we need a publisher when we self-finance our games, we build our own IP, we manage our own IP and we've turned nearly two million units online as indie publishers sold – not free downloads? Why? What's wrong with us?"

"I even helped them release the box" Lanning added.