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Dean Hall announces new spacefaring survival MMO, Ion, at Microsoft E3 briefing

Dean Hall on the Microsoft stage

DayZ creator Dean Hall made an appearance at the Microsoft E3 press conference to reveal his new game, Ion, which will be exclusive to PC and Xbox One.

“I want a game that is not a game. I want a game that is a universe,” Hall said, sounding like a Bioshock villain. “A simulation MMO that explores mankind’s expansion into space. The chance to be a pioneer in a harsh universe.”

Promising that his new game will feature the constant threat of death (surprise!), Hall explained that he’s been working with tech company Improbable to build turn his prototype into a working game.

The game is coming via Xbox One Game Preview and PC.

The short teaser doesn’t give us much insight on what the game will be, except that it’s a big universe out there and you can work with other players to perform missions and perish in ghastly space-station disasters. It looks like Kerbal meets Gravity meets DayZ.

On Twitter, Hall explained that he was directly inspired by Space Station 13.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article said that SS13 was “defunct”. That was based on a confusion (pointed out by Doc Dremington in the comments below) about a failed remake attempt, not SS13 itself.