DayZ hits Steam today, Arma 3 will later

The wildly popular DayZ mod for Arma 2 (not the standalone) is now available on Steam! This should make it easier for people everywhere to access the base game without the confusion and effort some people complain about when trying to play DayZ. The mod even gives you the option to play the latest beta version instead of the latest stable release, which is pretty neat.


Just to confuse the issue, this is from the standalone, not the mod.

Of course, you'll probably still want to keep DayZ Commander if you want to play in other maps, or check out the excellent DayZ + fork, but for people who just want to check out the popular mod quickly and simply, this will no doubt be great news.

It also ties in to another Bohemia Interactive and Steam announcement released this week - Arma III will be available exclusively through Steam. In a blog post on Wednesday Bohemia Interactive explained the reason for the decision, which is to streamline distribution and allow them to focus on the game itself.

This will no doubt upset some, but as the post explains BI do not think they could have released Arma 3 in 2013 if they'd done otherwise. Does it bother you that Arma 3 will be Steam exclusive? Will DayZ being available directly through Steam have an impact on the player community? Let us know what you think in the comments below!