Is DayZ really an alpha?

[svenbreakfast 231]

Primarily it is a mod, and is not working towards a finished final product. So it will always be in testing. My understanding is that it's now more of a lab for things they want to try out. "Alpha" may be a little too specific though.

[Never 237]

Better way of looking at it is that DayZ MOD was Rockets 'proof of concept'.

It showed an outline of what he wanted to do, and somehow it got public and got huge very quickly (Well played Rocket I must say). But as part of the process of it becoming a popular mod a lot of flaws and problems were highlighted, enough problems for Rocket and BI to take note that as a shaky mod it was fine, but as a polished product it was never going to work in its own right in that form.

So,

DayZ Standalone was conceived and green-lighted, meaning a shift of focus from non-profit mod to saleable self contained game. They were some fantasies that Rocket and his team could work on both, but why waste time coding something for two different games when your profit margins for one is nil. so the decision was made to hand over the mod to the community (as they are some skilled modders that could continue work on it) and Rocket and Bi could invest all their time making a DayZ GAME that would in anyway worth a pricetag.

Basically the mod/proof of concept has been orphaned by its original maker and hes moved on to making the game he was showing he wanted to make.

Again very smart move by Rocket there, means he can make the game while the community keeps itself moist in anticipation.