DayZ on the Xbox One? Ball is in Microsoft's court

Dean Hall, the lead designer of DayZ, will publish his survival zombie game on Xbox One if Microsoft does away with the self-publishing restrictions and software update fees imposed on independent developers with its next-generation console, he told Polygon.

"I mean, I like the console. They're still really early on in the process," Hall explained. "They are all still up in the air, we still don't know what will happen. We wouldn't even think about [a console version] until we release it on PC. So it is still a very unknown quantity and we have got see whether Sony will deliver on what they said. And there is some concerning stuff about the PS4 as well. Like, the sun is not shining out of Sony's ass or anything."

"But with the PlayStation 4, we can self-publish and we don't have to pay for updates," Hall said. "Why do we need the publisher? And why should we pay for updates? You know we are going to be updating this game for a year, so it kind of seems a bit stupid to me. Whereas, with the PlayStation 4, we can self-publish and we don't have to pay for updates."

Hall said that the cost of updating a game on Microsoft's console is "very, very prohibitive." Although, he did offer hope that maybe the corporation's stance will change.

"And I'm not hating on Microsoft or anything," Hall said. "It is a real problem. Paying money for updates is a very difficult proposition for DayZ. I'm mean, I'm sure that means you can turn around and you can negotiate stuff with Microsoft; but what happens to the other indies?"

Hall said that if more people raise their voices, maybe Microsoft will rethink its strategy. "That's what I am hoping. I'd love to see DayZ on the Xbox One, but then we'll have to pay for updates and find a publisher then."

Sony's interest in a DayZ release for PlayStation 4 was revealed in April; however, Hall says the Windows PC version is the highest priority. "I'm positive that if we don't screw up the PC release, a console release will be most likely," he said. "But with the console release, we want to start developing it soon and we want to use the lessons from the PC to make it better. So we need to be able to patch and update it, we wouldn't want it to become this different thing."

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