Currently, the DLC Frostline is criticized because of its price. The head of the development studio Bohemia Interactive does not want to take that lying down.
In October 2024, the survival game DayZ received a DLC. In Frostline, you explore the snowy tundra, collect supplies, weapons and clothing. We weren’t completely convinced by the expansion.
Currently, the DLC is not doing well on Steam either. Currently, Frostline has just 23 percent positive reviews in the last 30 days.However, the bad reviews have less to do with the gameplay content.
“Nobody is forcing anyone to buy Frostline”
In the comments section, the price in particular is criticized as being too high for many players. On Steam, Frostline normally costs 27 euros. For example, user Mystyx:
DayZ itself is great for the price. This price for just one card alone is not worth it, especially when there are so many better modded free cards. Don’t waste your money on this card, you won’t miss much.
And Sentoz means:
DayZ: Frostline is a slap in the face for players. The team behind DayZ has once again proven that instead of delivering something truly new and worthwhile, they prefer to deliver half-baked content and overestimate their own efforts. We have put up with this for long enough, but there are limits to everything.
For this price, they delivered a rehashed map from Arma 3, stripped-down content, poor balance, and shamelessly copied ideas […]
The developers are not taking the sometimes harsh criticism lying down. On X, formerly Twitter, Marek Spanel, head of the development studio Bohemia Interactive, is responding.
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
In his post, Spanel presents a calculation:
Did you know that 8 million users whose data we have on Steam played DayZ for an average of 188 hours and paid an average of $30 gross for it? That means we get less than 10 cents per hour of gameplay. In return, we host the online infrastructure that we have been updating for over 10 years.
Spanel continues:
Nevertheless, DayZ Frostline is currently being criticized as too expensive on the same platform. 27 US dollars for “just a map,” and some users are demanding “more for less money.”
Another user, , comments under the post, , that many people are not willing to pay the price “for old assets and practically no gameplay.” Spanel also reacts to this, :
Nobody is forcing anyone to buy DayZ Frostline; the base game continues to run for all users.
The game’s official X-account, on the other hand, is formulating a more defensive post:
We read your feedback carefully and always try to make the best of it. We also don’t forget our fantastic modding community – and yes, they have tons of free maps that will keep you busy if you’re not ready to join the people on the frosty Sakhal yet!
DayZ was originally intended as a mod for the shooter Arma 2. But the zombie survival title was then developed as a standalone version. Meanwhile, DayZ already has eleven years under its belt. After five years in Early Access, the game entered the full release on December 13, 2018.
And despite its age, an average of between 30,000 and 50,000 players are still trying to survive the zombie apocalypse. Just in October 2024, DayZ celebrated a new record with more than 78,000 players playing at the same time.
