Dead by Daylight
12 documents in the library are about Dead by Daylight, from writers such as Stream Hatchet, Game Developers Conference and GameDiscoverCo, the newest from 2026. Each has a summary and key insights with the page they come from.
Trapped forever in a realm of eldritch evil where even death is not an escape, four determined Survivors face a bloodthirsty Killer in a vicious game of nerve and wits. Pick a side and step into a world of tension and terror with horror gaming's best asymmetrical multiplayer. Survivors play in third-person and have the advantage of better situational awareness. The Killer plays in first-person and is more focused on their prey. The Survivors' goal in each encounter is to escape the Killing Ground without getting caught by the Killer - something that sounds easier than it is, especially when the environment changes every time you play.
- Released
- Jun 14, 2016
- Developer
- Behaviour Interactive
- Publishers
- 505 Games, Deep Silver, Starbreeze Studios, NetEase Games
- Genres
- Strategy
- Platforms
- Google Stadia, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Android, PC (Microsoft Windows), iOS, PlayStation 5, Xbox One
- Links
- Wikipedia
Game data from IGDB.com
Key figures
The June 2026 launch of the Jason Voorhees chapter set a record for Dead by Daylight with 2.1 million hours watched in a single day, representing a 135% day-over-day increase in viewership.
Stream Hatchet, 2026 · Dead by Daylight’s Event Strategy on Streaming
Friendslop retention rates significantly trail established multiplayer titles, such as Dead by Daylight at 11.3% D30 retention and Phasmophobia at 5.3%.
AppMagic, 2026 · AppMagic: Friendslop Games in 2025 and Their Retention
Behaviour Interactive transitioned from a work-for-hire service provider to a global publisher by launching the original IP Dead by Daylight in 2016, which has since reached over 50 million players.
PocketGamer.biz, 2023 · How Canada’s Biggest Independent Studio Went Global - Luc Duchaine, Behaviour Interactive., p. 3
Dead by Daylight is the dominant title in the genre, accounting for 28.5% of all horror game viewership over the past year with 238 million hours watched.
Stream Hatchet, 2024 · Halloween Fuels Horror Games on Live Streaming
Documents about Dead by Daylight
Dead by Daylight’s Event Strategy on Streaming
Dead by Daylight serves as a primary case study for sustaining long-term engagement in live service gaming through a consistent, high-frequency event strategy.
- The June 2026 launch of the Jason Voorhees chapter set a record for Dead by Daylight with 2.1 million hours watched in a single day, representing a 135% day-over-day increase in viewership.
- Event streams are the most effective driver of viewership, delivering an average 108% boost above baseline, followed by full chapter launches at 55% and Twitch Drops at 48%.
- Dead by Daylight maintains a high level of streaming engagement through a dense content calendar, with the game's baseline viewership holding steady between 0.5 and 0.7 million daily hours watched.
AppMagic: Friendslop Games in 2025 and Their Retention
The 2025 landscape for "friendslop" games—a genre characterized by cooperative, social-focused gameplay—reveals a market defined by high initial sales volume but notably low long-term player retention.
- The 'friendslop' genre is characterized by high initial sales volume, with four of the top ten best-selling Steam games in 2025 falling into this category, including R.E.P.O. (18.5 million units) and Peak (15.4 million units).
- Long-term player retention for the genre is notably low, with an average 30-day (D30) retention rate of approximately 3%.
- Friendslop retention rates significantly trail established multiplayer titles, such as Dead by Daylight at 11.3% D30 retention and Phasmophobia at 5.3%.
Who Won Steam's 'Best of 2025' Revenue Rankings?
This analysis examines the 2025 revenue performance of games on the Steam platform, utilizing official year-end charts to identify market trends and shifts in consumer behavior.
- Steam revenue rankings are increasingly dominated by new releases, with 31 of the top-grossing titles debuting in 2024 or 2025, up from 24 in 2024.
- Performance marketing data across $625 million in 2025 digital spend indicates that last-click attribution models fail to capture the full value of upper-funnel activities like YouTube exposure.
- For paid titles, improving user review scores from mixed to positive significantly increases conversion rates, whereas review sentiment has no measurable impact on free-to-play title performance.
Five Nights at Freddy’s on Live Streaming
The Five Nights at Freddy’s (FNAF) franchise maintains a robust presence on live-streaming platforms, driven by a highly engaged community that thrives on narrative mystery and fan speculation.
- The June 2025 release of 'Five Nights at Freddy’s: Secret of the Mimic' generated 3.8 million hours watched and a peak of 171,000 concurrent viewers during its debut week.
- The 'Five Nights at Freddy’s' (FNAF) franchise maintains a consistent baseline of approximately 800,000 monthly hours watched, with significant viewership spikes occurring only upon the release of new content.
- The 2023 FNAF film release triggered a 300% increase in franchise viewership, growing from 287,000 hours watched two weeks pre-release to a peak of 883,000 hours the week after.
How Well Have Xbox Games on PlayStation Been Selling So Far? It Differs
Xbox has transitioned into a third-party publisher, strategically porting its software to PlayStation to mitigate stagnating console and Game Pass growth.
- Xbox's multi-platform strategy has generated significant sales on PlayStation, led by Sea of Thieves with 1.8 million copies and Grounded with 432.2 thousand copies sold since April 2024.
- Xbox is successfully reaching a new audience on PlayStation, as evidenced by 29% of Grounded players on the platform also playing Sea of Thieves, suggesting a cohort of 'Xbox-curious' users.
- Niche Xbox titles have seen lower adoption on PlayStation compared to larger hits, with Hi-Fi Rush selling 137.2 thousand copies, Age of Mythology Retold selling 41 thousand, and Pentiment selling 14 thousand.
Halloween Fuels Horror Games on Live Streaming
The live streaming industry increasingly leverages Halloween as a strategic marketing period to drive engagement, mirroring trends in film and music.
- Horror games generated 836 million hours watched across Twitch, YouTube, and Kick over the past 12 months, despite accounting for only 1.2 million hours of total airtime.
- Halloween significantly boosts engagement, with horror game viewership doubling from September to October 2024 and accounting for 4.7% of all live-streaming viewership during that month.
- Dead by Daylight is the dominant title in the genre, accounting for 28.5% of all horror game viewership over the past year with 238 million hours watched.
Plus: Next Week Is Massive on Steam, Folks!
The second week of August 2022 represents a significant period for the PC gaming market, marking the first time in the year that three titles with a GameDiscoverCo "Hype" score exceeding 10,000 launched simultaneously.
- The second week of August 2022 marked a record for the year, featuring three simultaneous game launches with GameDiscoverCo 'Hype' scores exceeding 10,000.
- Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered is projected to reach 5 to 10 million units in long-term PC sales, highlighting the strong market potential for high-quality console-to-PC conversions.
- MultiVersus is currently leading engagement across PlayStation, Xbox, and the Epic Games Store, with revenue primarily driven by the sale of paid character packs.
Fireside Chat: How the Home of Dead by Daylight has Stayed Independent. Charlie Scowen & Danni Pratt
Behaviour Interactive, a Canadian game developer with over 30 years of industry experience, maintains its independence by balancing original intellectual property development with strategic co-development services.
- Behaviour Interactive has maintained independence for over 30 years, currently employing over 1,300 people across six global studios.
- The studio enforces a strict 'no-crunch' policy, a culture spearheaded by CEO Rémy Racine that prioritizes work-life balance and employee retention.
- Behaviour Interactive utilizes a 'passion-first' service model, refusing to accept external development projects unless at least one team member is personally obsessed with the specific IP.
How IP and Brand Collaborations Level Up Games
IP and brand collaborations serve as a critical strategic lever for boosting player engagement and revenue in the modern games market.
- Aligning in-game collaborations with external transmedia marketing, such as theatrical film releases, can drive DAU increases of up to 120%.
- IP collaborations generate an average 11% increase in daily active users (DAU) during the first week of launch, with engagement typically peaking between the fourth and fifth days.
- Premium games see a 19% average DAU boost from collaborations, significantly outperforming free-to-play titles, which see an 8% increase due to a heavier reliance on cosmetic-only content.
How Canada’s Biggest Independent Studio Went Global - Luc Duchaine, Behaviour Interactive.
Behaviour Interactive, Canada’s largest independent video game studio, has successfully transitioned from a work-for-hire service provider to a global publisher of original intellectual property.
- Behaviour Interactive transitioned from a work-for-hire service provider to a global publisher by launching the original IP Dead by Daylight in 2016, which has since reached over 50 million players.
- The studio maintains a dual-revenue model that balances original game development with a work-for-hire division, providing financial stability and opportunities to refine technical expertise on global brands.
- Founded in 1992, the studio has scaled to over 1,200 employees with a physical presence in Montreal, Toronto, Seattle, and the United Kingdom.
Dead by Daylight: When Creative and Business Minds Are Cooking with GAAS
Dead by Daylight serves as a definitive case study for the successful implementation of Games-as-a-Service models, demonstrating that long-term profitability is best achieved by aligning creative vision with player-centric monetization.
- Monetization in Games-as-a-Service (GaaS) should be additive to the player experience rather than subtractive; by focusing on optional cosmetic items, developers can generate revenue while enhancing player engagement and character customization.
- Behaviour Interactive rejected loot boxes in favor of an 'a la carte' store model to maintain player trust, opting for lower immediate revenue in exchange for long-term brand health and player respect.
- Generosity in GaaS, such as allowing players to unlock 60-70% of store content and all original characters using a grindable 'soft currency,' directly correlates with increased average session duration and player retention.
Dead by Daylight: Object of Obsession
Dead by Daylight functions as a foundational case study in the evolution of asymmetrical 4v1 multiplayer horror, prioritizing visceral, emergent gameplay over traditional interface-heavy mechanics.
- Behaviour Interactive transitioned from a work-for-hire model to self-publishing to establish a sustainable development framework focused on rapid prototyping and internal playtesting.
- The studio shifted from a volume-based content model to a structured, chapter-based release cycle to ensure long-term viability and prevent technical debt.
- Map design utilizes a semi-procedural approach that combines static landmarks for navigational stability with randomized elements to maintain replayability.