Fans of the zombie survival-horror game DayZ have taken a chunk out of its Steam user-score after developer Bohemia Interactive released a DLC that players say is overpriced and underwhelming. Now, the game’s developer has responded to the criticism… by posting a Beatles song.
“Did you know that 8 million users for whom we have data on Steam played for an average of 188 hours and paid an average of 30 USD gross in Dayz?” Bohemia Interactive CEO Marek Spanel said on Twitter. “That means we received less than 10 cents for an hour of live online gaming, for which we host the online infrastructure and have been updating it for 10+ years. Yet DayZ Frostline is currently being review-bombed on the same platform for being too expensive: $26.99 for ‘just a map,’ and some users demand ‘gimme more for less money.’ Hmm. Please Please Me.”
Did you know that 8 million users for whom we have data on Steam played for an average of 188 hours and paid an average of 30 USD gross in #Dayz? That means we received less than 10 cents for an hour of live online gaming, for which we host the online infrastructure and have been… pic.twitter.com/zOMQNvEPtq
— Marek Spanel (@maruksp) November 26, 2024
The post was accompanied by a clip from the Beatles song Please Please Me.
Released in October, the Frostline DLC retails for $27, a price that players say is far too high given what’s included. The game is currently sitting at a “Mostly Negative” user review score on Steam, where players are pointing out the DLC’s various flaws. The main problem seems to be a lack of new, engaging content.
“First things first: This is not even an original map,” one user pointed out. “This $37 CAD DLC map is a cut-down reskin of the ArmA III map ‘Tanoa.’ That being said, Sakhal does have some neat stuff to it, but it is absolutely not worth its asking price as of right now. Maybe in time they’ll add more interesting features to the map to justify its existence, but right now you can get much better maps for free, and Bohemia knows it.”
“This is an extremely lazy effort from Bohemia Interactive,” the player continued. “Bugs that have plagued this game for years go unmentioned, the fabled ‘AI overhaul’ has been pushed back for years, but now we have a snowy Tanoa with less landmass to explore, and most of the islands they left intact are just completely empty anyways. Joy.”
Others have pointed out that the DLC’s more interesting POIs–like the new map’s Weather Dome and Volcano–cannot be entered or interacted with whatsoever. Others have pointed out that maps with far more content have been released for free by modders.
Aside from Spanel’s Beatles-based reaction, Bohemia Interactive has yet to make any further comment on the controversy.