Over a decade after its standalone release, DayZ has set a new record for its highest player count this weekend. It is a remarkable feat for a ten-year-old game in the survival shooter genre highlighting the lasting popularity of the title.
DayZ started life out as a survival mode for the military simulator Arma 2 running on the Take On Helicopters engine. Game designer Dean Hall announced in November 2012 that the game would come out as a standalone title "in order to achieve what we have to do."
According to SteamDB, DayZ posted its best concurrent player count last Thursday, November 9th, with a total of 69,449 gamers logging on to the game. The zombie survival shooter averages around 50,000 players at peak times.
Developer Bohemia Interactive released a new update a week ago which may have triggered the influx of new players. Update 1.23 added an enhanced sky palette, changes to several points of interest, and added some new features to the game. The new patch also adds the iconic DMR that gives players a new powerful mid-range weapon option.
It is interesting to see that a game posting its best play count ten years after its initial release. What is even more impressive, DayZ is currently in 12th place in the Steam charts, beating top-tier AAA's like Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption, and Elden Ring. In comparison, Starfield only has 20,000 players.