"Let's Normalize Game Delays" — DayZ Creator Calls on Gamers to Be More Understanding of Postponements

"Let's Normalize Game Delays" — DayZ Creator Urges Gamers to Be More Lenient Towards Postponements

The creator of DayZ, Dean Hall, has called on players to stop viewing release delays as a catastrophe. In his opinion, it is the audience that can change the attitude towards delays and show platform holders that an extra month of development is normal.

The trigger was the postponement of the console version of ICARUS. It was originally scheduled for release on February 26th, but three weeks before launch, the date was pushed back to March 26th. The team needed extra time to polish the gameplay and prepare for a smooth launch. The PC version of ICARUS was released back in 2021 and has been receiving regular updates since then.

During an AMA session on Reddit, Hall reminded everyone that RocketWerkz has postponed its projects multiple times. The Dangerous Horizons expansion for ICARUS has been delayed many times (and still hasn't been released), Stationeers has been in Early Access for ten years, and the public build of Kitten Space Agency was also delayed to improve quality. Now, the console version of ICARUS has been added to this list.

Games are very expensive to produce. Deadlines significantly impact a project's budget, so delaying a release can have serious financial consequences. Gamers want quality and certainty, but in my opinion, developers latch onto this and fall into 'deadline fixation' when it comes to launch.

This is partly due to revenue pressure, but a lot of it comes down to perception. Today we are here to change that attitude.

Avoiding delays also leads to a 'crunch culture.' That's why I have a goal — let's normalize game delays. You, as consumers, can make it clear to platform holders (Xbox, PlayStation) that delays are normal. Dean Hall

The developer also explained why releases are actually delayed. According to him, most often it's because the team doesn't have time to bring the project to the desired level of quality. Even if the creators want to release a polished product, they might lack the budget. As a result, developers downplay or ignore problems. This is exactly what happened with the PC launch of ICARUS — because of this, the game received mixed reviews on Steam at launch.

When the studio's financial situation became more stable, the team tried to break this cycle. Before a release, employees play the game as regular users, without cheats, and then hold meetings to decide: release the project or postpone and refine it.

I believe it's very important to be sincere when talking with the community. And that means sometimes having to tell people things they don't want to hear (for example: we can't fix X because we made decision Y early on).

If you manage to build such a relationship with players, it becomes easier to honestly discuss delays and explain their reasons — without all that corporate newspeak. For example: 'we are delaying the game because we felt it didn't have enough missions,' or 'there were too many bugs that ruined the experience,' or 'the quest rewards weren't good enough' — these are all real reasons why we have delayed our projects. Dean Hall

The console version of ICARUS is already available for pre-order on Xbox Series and PlayStation 5. However, Hall added: "Speaking personally — don't pre-order games, folks. Speaking from a commercial standpoint — please do pre-order, because that's the only way PlayStation and Xbox notice us."

The survival game is also available on PC via Steam with a text translation into Russian.