DayZ Badlands is not free: it is a paid expansion that Bohemia Interactive has priced at approximately $24.99, regional pricing aside, and you need the DayZ base game to play it. It is coming to console, with Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One confirmed for October 15, 2026 alongside PC, while PlayStation has Bohemia’s promise of “all platforms” but, as of October 13, no store listing or date.
There is a free part, though. Badlands launches alongside DayZ Update 1.30, which every DayZ owner gets at no cost, and several of the expansion’s headline features ship in that update for every map. Below is what you pay for, what you get anyway, and the current state of each console and Game Pass. For the launch hour on each platform, see our DayZ Badlands release time guide.
What DayZ Badlands Costs
Bohemia set the price in its October 2 announcement: “approximately $24.99. Regional pricing may apply.” Its reasoning is that Nasdara is “a brand-new terrain made specifically for DayZ,” and the new map is the core of what the money buys. When the expansion was first revealed in June 2025, Bohemia had promised a price below $25, so the final number kept that promise.
For comparison, DayZ Frostline, the 2024 expansion that added the winter map Sakhal, sells for $26.99 on Steam. As of October 13, neither the Steam page nor the Xbox Store listing for DayZ Badlands shows a final price yet, so expect your local price to appear on launch day.
Badlands is an add-on, so you also need DayZ itself, which is $49.99 on Steam at full price. Both store listings say so plainly: the Xbox listing reads “This content requires a game (sold separately).”
There is also a physical option. On October 9 Bohemia announced a Collector’s Vinyl Box Set, made with IGN, that bundles the DayZ and Badlands soundtracks on vinyl, a foldout map of Nasdara Province, patches and posters with a digital code for the Badlands DLC. It is sold through IGN’s store in North America and Bohemia’s own store in Europe.
What You Get for Free Without Buying Badlands
Update 1.30 launches the same day and is free for every DayZ owner. Based on Bohemia’s dev blogs and its 1.30 Experimental announcement, here is what reaches the base game:
- Motorbikes. A moped called the Jana and an enduro dirt bike, with new leaning physics and ragdoll crashes. Bohemia’s motorbike dev blog says bikes “will not be limited to Nasdara” and will appear on every terrain, in lower numbers.
- The code lock. The community’s most requested base-building item, powered by a V9 battery, works on doors and existing base fences. Bohemia confirmed it is “available on all other maps.”
- Redrawn inventory icons. More than 150 icons were reworked for a consistent look.
- Smarter infected attacks. Infected now aim high, middle or low depending on your stance and position, and gain a new running heavy attack.
- Underground tech for modders. The terrain-hole system behind Nasdara’s underground facilities will also be available for other maps and to the modding community.
Some Badlands content reached the base game even earlier. The July 2026 “Road to Badlands” update added the SCR-17 battle rifle, holo sights, tanker helmets, desert camo gear and Nasdara military convoys that now appear on Chernarus and Livonia.
What stays behind the purchase is Nasdara itself: the 267 km² desert map, its sandstorms, rebuildable houses, new animals and the radio gameplay that leads to underground shelters.
DayZ Badlands on Xbox
Badlands is confirmed for Xbox. It was announced for Xbox Series X|S at the ID@Xbox Showcase in October 2025, with Bohemia “continuing its support for Xbox One.” The Xbox Store listing covers Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC through the Xbox app, and is dated October 15.
Because DayZ is online-only, the listing also notes that console play requires an online multiplayer subscription. On Xbox that means Game Pass Essential or a higher tier.
DayZ Badlands on PS5 and PlayStation
Bohemia’s June 2025 reveal on X said Badlands is “releasing in 2026 on all platforms,” and DayZ has been on PlayStation since 2019. As of October 13, however, we found no Badlands listing on the PlayStation Store in the US, UK or German storefronts, and Bohemia has not given PlayStation its own date or time.
The precedent is encouraging: Frostline launched on PlayStation the same day as PC and Xbox in October 2024. Until a store page goes up, though, a PlayStation launch on October 15 is expected rather than confirmed.
It also helps to know what “on PS5” means for DayZ. The PlayStation Store sells DayZ as a PS4 game, which runs on PS5 through backward compatibility, and Frostline was sold as an add-on for that version. So on a PS5 you would buy Badlands as an add-on for the PS4 version of DayZ, unless Bohemia announces otherwise. As with all DayZ on PlayStation, online play requires PlayStation Plus.
DayZ Badlands and Game Pass
DayZ is, Badlands is not. The base game’s console version was already part of Game Pass, and Xbox Wire’s April 2026 Game Pass roundup added the PC version to Game Pass Ultimate, Premium, Essential and PC Game Pass on April 8. Microsoft’s Game Pass catalog still lists DayZ as of October 13.
The Badlands add-on, though, is not included with any pass. Its Xbox Store listing names no Game Pass tier, and it does not appear in Microsoft’s Game Pass catalog. That makes Game Pass a cheap way into DayZ itself, with the expansion as a separate purchase on top.
If you are deciding where to play, the biggest games coming out in October 2026 list has the rest of the month’s launches, and our DayZ Badlands price story covers the Creator Program that put Nasdara on streams a week early. For another survival game that lives and dies on water, see our Dune: Awakening water guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is DayZ Badlands free? No. It is a paid expansion priced at approximately $24.99, with regional pricing possible. Update 1.30, which launches alongside it, is free for every DayZ owner.
Do you need DayZ to play Badlands? Yes. Badlands is an add-on and requires the DayZ base game on every platform.
Is DayZ Badlands on PS5? Bohemia has said it is coming to all platforms, but as of October 13 there is no PlayStation Store listing. DayZ on PlayStation is a PS4 game that PS5 owners play through backward compatibility.
Is DayZ Badlands on Xbox Game Pass? No. DayZ itself is on Game Pass on console and PC, but the Badlands expansion is sold separately.
Will DayZ Badlands become free later? Bohemia has not said. There is a precedent: the Livonia map launched as paid DLC in 2019, and Bohemia announced in 2024 that Update 1.25 would give it free to every base game owner. That took years, and Bohemia has made no such promise for Badlands.
Can you ride the new motorbikes without Badlands? Yes. Bohemia says the moped and enduro come to every terrain with Update 1.30, though in lower numbers than on Nasdara.