DayZ creator Dean Hall says that the New Zealand government is turning down millions in tax dollars by not taking video games seriously.

In an interview with Gamasutra, Hall detailed his battle with New Zealand immigration, whose policies he previously said were preventing him from developing a AAA title here.

Hall wanted to base a studio in Dunedin because the University of Otago produces a lot of talented graduates, and because the cost of living in Dunedin is relatively low.

"I also think there’s a massive hole in the industry for graduates, and for people who want to get into games and can’t,” he said.

“I want to run a really solid graduate recruitment program, find international people who want to get into games, and then give them a chance and take a risk, in the hope that I get a percentage of the awesome things that they do as a result of that.”

Hall convinced a few US graduates to move to New Zealand as the job market in the States is so cutthroat, but their visas were declined by Immigration.

According to Hall, the problem is twofold: Immigration disagrees on how much game developers should be paid, and it also doesn’t understand the way the profit cycle of a game developer works.

The Ministry of Immigration initially expected Hall’s hires to be paid NZ$60k a year – the average amount a software developer would earn. However, Hall wanted to pay each around NZ$35k, and backed up this figure with letters from established game studios here.

The New Zealand government's official career site lists starting salaries for game developers as between NZ$36k and NZ$50k.

“People don’t take a video game job because it pays well, or to make money," said Hall.

"They’re taking it because they love it. So many people want to work in video games that it drives the salaries down.

“[The government] just doesn’t see video games as a viable industry. One of the worst things a government can do is ignore it or lump it in with IT. To me that’s far and away the worst thing you can do.”

Immigration has since lowered its required salary down to NZ$37,500, but Hall said he doesn’t want to pay immigrants NZ$2500 extra to perform the same job as locals.

He said he does understand the principle behind the Immigration law though.

“The idea is that they look out for not only New Zealand to make sure that people aren’t getting undercut, but the immigrant as well,” he said.

“But in the specifics, things start to run away. How can they justify the figures that they have? We were providing a letter from two competitors coming forward and giving their own salary information in support of our application. I felt like we had done just about everything that we could, and in fact far more than I would expect someone should.”

“I think the legislation makes sense, I just think governments aren’t treating video games like a real thing, and lumping them in with IT, and they’re missing the boat.

“And because it’s such a mobile industry, being able to move people and studios around, there are not the same tangible reasons for a developer to be in a particular city, unlike a factory or an airport. The danger is that I’m going to move towards developing in London or L.A.”

It would ultimately be New Zealand’s loss, said Hall.

“My previous game made $100 million, and I could have easily insisted that that game be made in New Zealand. I considered it. And that’s $30 million in tax,” he said.

“I say that and I think that the government people think that I’m lying. But you can find that information out, you can look at Steamspy and see how many copies it’s sold.

“I think unfortunately it’s now a total loss in terms of that $20 million project for New Zealand.

"Even if someone came along today and said ‘It’s good, everything is sorted’ I think it would actually be too late. That’s what’s so maddening for me, it’s not a question of how things should be, it’s how it could have been.

“I think it’s a fantastic place to make these kinds of games, but it’s just slipped through the cracks, and in terms of government that just doesn’t seem to care. And that’s $20 million just in terms of pure development, let alone how much that game would have made.”