A sequel to the genre-defining survival game DayZ appears to be in development, according to an internal Microsoft document shared publicly as part of its ongoing Activision Blizzard merger court proceedings. DayZ first launched in alpha 10 years ago, helping to define a subgenre that's since become incredibly popular and successful. DayZ itself has had its ups and downs, and developer Bohemia Interactive may feel like it's the right time to move on to a sequel.DayZ is a post-apocalyptic multiplayer survival game in which players must salvage food, weapons, and utility items to live while battling against a zombie horde and potentially other players, as well. The player-versus-player aspect of DayZ is a major component of its success. Players are allowed to immediately fight any other players they encounter in-game. Alternatively, they can communicate with other players and even work together. In that regard, DayZ captures the themes of a zombie apocalypse with gusto.Now developer Bohemia Interactive appears to be working on an unannounced sequel to DayZ. The confirmation was made via a document shared as part of the ongoing FTC vs. Microsoft court case, tied to Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The document, an updated profile for Bohemia Interactive is confidential and intended for internal use only. The profile includes a list of projects Bohemia is currently working on, which includes "Arma Reforged, Arma 4 and DayZ 2."
It must be clarified that no further information is provided about the development of DayZ 2 in the document. That leaves a lot of ambiguity regarding the state of the project. It could be something that Bohemia has only done exploratory work on. There may not even be developers actively working on it. It may have been shelved in favor of other Bohemia projects. Without more information, DayZ fans should probably keep their expectations in check.
Still, it makes perfect sense that Bohemia Interactive would want to make a sequel to DayZ considering the previous game's success and the popularity of the branding. It may not be coming any time soon, since ARMA 4 appears to be the studio's current priority. But Bohemia Interactive is a very large studio, and it's more than capable of working on multiple projects at once.
The development of DayZ has not been officially confirmed by Bohemia Interactive. It's possible a comment might be made in response to the Microsoft document leak, but a full announcement will have to wait until Bohemia is ready. That could be later this year, in 2024, or in the years to come. It's exciting news for DayZ fans, but they'll just have to remain patient.
DayZ 2 is rumored to be in development.