'DayZ' reaches over 400 000 players, may be destined for free-to-play

DayZ climbs in popularity with over 400,000 users.

ArmA 2 zombie mod DayZ has a userbase of 420,000 players, creator Dean Hall confirmed, and it is expected to reach half a million by next week.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Hall stated the numbers of concurrent users are in the 20 thousands at full peak.

"Currently we're running 22,000 concurrent at full peak, and 10,000 off peak, which is pretty huge numbers considering the original data structure and system was designed to handle 100 concurrents, and two servers."

He added they currently have 1000 servers and are getting 110,000 players in a 24 hour period. The game's popularity has forced the migration of servers six times, with five servers lost due to overheating. In addition each update has caused a server crash.

Thanks to the success of the game, Hall hopes to see it become a free-to-play standalone title. He also confirms dogs, German Shepherds specifically, will be implemented into the game.

Polygon spoke with Hall last month to talk in depth about DayZ and the influence of his military career on the game.