DayZ Creator's Microsoft Exclusive, Ion Has Been Cancelled

Neither party actively working on Ion.

By Wesley Copeland

DayZ creator Dean Hall’s space station-set MMO, Ion has ceased development.

Ion was originally set to be co-developed by both Improbable and Hall’s New Zealand-based studio RocketWerkz. As reported by Eurogamer, however, both parties have now confirmed its cancellation.

Here’s Improbable’s statement on the matter:

"Ion was initially conceived as a project for co-development between Improbable and RocketWerkz. A lot has changed since then," Improbable said. "Dean Hall moved back to New Zealand from London, RocketWerkz has started work on a number of other games, and we have grown increasingly into a platform for games to be deployed on [cloud-based development solution, SpatialOS].

"We can definitely say that Improbable is not currently working on Ion. However, we have not previously commented on and cannot now comment on RocketWerkz' current or future plans.”

And here’s Hall’s on behalf of RocketWerkz:

"We're not actively working on Ion, no," Hall said. "I am not involved in that, no. Nor is RocketWerkz studio in New Zealand. When I look at Ion, Ion could only happen with a company like Improbable, with the scale of technology like that, and that's not a game we could do alone."

What’s not clear at this point is what happened to end the partnership. Hall goes on to mention how the reason he set up his studio was to try different things, and that in the early days, the team spent time experimenting around deciding how, specifically, they wanted to make games. At some point along the way, RocketWerkz made the decision to “very much focus on the projects we control in their entirety ourselves."

Hall goes on to say he’d rather have people annoyed he didn’t release something rather than release something he wasn’t happy with.

Ion was originally announced live on-stage during Microsoft's E3 2015 press conference, exclusively for Xbox One and PC. Hall’s original pitch for the game was “a game that is not a game.”

"I want a game that is a universe. A universe built not on scripts or quests, but on the laws of physics, biology, and chemistry. A simulation MMO that explores mankind's expansion into space; the chance to be a pioneer in a harsh universe swamped with the risk of death yet peppered with the havens of fortune."

The news comes following a rough period for Xbox exclusives. In January of this year, Microsoft announced development on Platinum Games’ adventure title Scalebound has ended. In March of last year, the Redmond giant cancelled both Project Knoxville and Fable Legends, and shut down both development studios in the process.

Wesley Copeland is a freelance news writer who writes excellent bios. For more obvious statements and video game chat, you should probably follow him on Twitter.

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