Gaming developer hits out

A Dunedin gaming developer has moved a multimillion-dollar project offshore because New Zealand’s broadband is in the ‘‘dark age’’.

Dean Hall is the creator of DayZ, a zombie survival game that has sold more than 3 million copies and yielded more than US$100m (NZ$137.7m).

The former Oamaru man returned from overseas to set up the Rocketwerks studio in Dunedin, winner of the Gigatown competition

Dunedin won Gigatown on 26 November 2014, with the first gigabit connections beginning in February,

Hall tweeted that the Gigatown win, which promised gigabit internet speeds for the city, was a ‘‘total joke’’.

‘‘I got better internet on the plane to Iceland three weeks ago.’’

He had already moved a project to London, at a loss of a US$3m (NZ$4.04m) to the Otago economy, because of superior broadband.

He continued to scout for a new office in Dunedin, but many buildings were not connected with fibre, or there was a long delay for installation and costs were high.

Hall said he had since been contacted by Chorus and other agencies, who helped fill in his ‘‘information vacuum’’, and his issues were largely resolved.

However, he worried for others who might be in a similar situation, and the wider implication for New Zealand’s economy, although he remains committed to the country. Enterprise Dunedin director John Christie conceded there had been initial teething problems with issues around connectivity.