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Dead by Daylight dev laying off up to 95 people in ‘structural’ change

Vecna in Dead by Daylight.
Behaviour Interactive

Behaviour Interactive, the studio best known for the asymmetrical horror game Dead by Daylight, plans to lay off up to 95 people, mostly from its Montreal office.

According to a press release, the move is part of a number of “structural changes” the company plans to make in order to “craft an ambitious vision for its future success.”

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“I would like to express my deep personal appreciation for any employee affected by today’s changes,” studio co-founder Rémi Racine said in a statement. “While changes to our structure and strategic vision have led to challenging decisions, we are confident that these decisions will position us for continued success.”

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The 95 workers — 70 of whom are based at the Montreal headquarters — are in addition to the reported 45 workers laid off in January. Those earlier layoffs were spurred on by “changing market conditions,” according to a statement provided to GamesIndustry.biz.

The announcement promises that Dead by Daylight will not be affected. The game still releases frequent updates. In fact, it just released a Dungeons & Dragons crossover on Monday with the lich Vecna as the Entity of note that players have to escape. It also plans to release a new 2v8 mode and a Castlevania collaboration.

Behaviour Interactive has also been working on the in-universe Dead by Daylight spinoffs Project T, a co-op third-person shooter from Midwinter Entertainment (acquired by Behaviour in 2022), and The Casting of Frank Stone, a single-player adventure from Supermassive Games. It also released Meet Your Maker, a multiplayer dungeon creator and tower defense fusion game, last year.

The company has also been making a lot of acquisitions, including SockMonkey Studios in early 2023 and Codeglue from the Netherlands later that year. It also opened another U.K.-based studio in Cornwall, bringing the total studios up to six, including Midwinter.

Carli Velocci
Carli is a technology, culture, and games editor and journalist. They were the Gaming Lead and Copy Chief at Windows Central…
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