Update: As of this writing, The War Z is no longer available for purchase through Steam. We’ll update this story when we learn more.
Original Story: The War Z is a game that, long before launch, attracted some criticism for how much it resembled the super-popular ArmA II mod DayZ, which is on its way to becoming a standalone game thanks to its success. Similarities in title aside, the two are open-world zombie games where permadeath can play a critical role. As DayZ was the first to market, War Z developers Hammerpoint Interactive have been accused of simply ripping off Dean Hall’s mod. A “foundation release” of DayZ was expected to be out before the end of the year, though Hall has expressed a willingness to let that deadline slip in order to deliver a better game. Hammerpoint, following a similar strategy of getting out a base game that can then be built upon, had its own foundation release land on Steam this past Monday. However, the lack of any way to discern that certain features promised on its Steam were not available at launch has resulted in a lot of angry gamers, and a developer with an apparent reluctance to fully accept the blame for the situation.
