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 made more than $137.7 million.

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



Dunedin won Gigatown on November 26, 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 has already moved one project to London, at a loss of more than $4m to the Otago economy, due to its superior broadband but remains committed to this country.

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 other people who might be in a similar situation and the wider implication for New Zealand's economy.

Enterprise Dunedin director John Christie conceded there had been initial teething problems with issues around connectivity "and that's a priority for us".

The council was working with providers to improve connectivity and to attract more business into the city, he said.

This week, Dunedin City councillors voted to allocate $250,000 for Gigatown projects next year.

A Chorus spokesman said: "We have been made aware of Dean's issues and we are actively working with him to get his business connected.

"Dean is currently looking at a site in Dunedin, and we have advised him the site can get UFB installed and he will now place an order with his internet service provider."

READ MORE: NZ's internet is not that bad