![\"10th](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/10th-anniversary-key-art-landscape-1138x640.jpg\")
Image: Behaviour Interactive<\/p>\nThe horror video game Dead by Daylight celebrates its 10th anniversary this month. Since its creation, the title has amassed more than 70 million players, and Behaviour Interactive, the Montreal studio that developed it, has seen its team grow from 300 to 1,260 employees.<\/p>\n
Image: Behaviour Interactive<\/p>\n
A little more than\u00a010\u00a0years ago, the Canada Media Fund financed a video game called\u00a0Dead by Daylight. At the\u00a0time, Montreal developer Behaviour\u00a0Interactive,\u00a0creator of\u00a0the\u00a0asymmetrical horror game\u00a0that pits\u00a0one player,\u00a0the\u00a0killer,\u00a0against four other participants,\u00a0had no idea\u00a0it would become a global success.\u00a0<\/p>\n
To\u00a0explore\u00a0the\u00a0game\u2019s history and\u00a0achievements,\u00a0Now & Next\u00a0interviewed\u00a0Behaviour\u00a0Interactive\u2019s CEO, R\u00e9mi Racine, and two\u00a0of\u00a0Dead by Daylight\u2019s original\u00a0developers,\u00a0Dave Richard,\u00a0creative\u00a0director, and Mathieu C\u00f4t\u00e9,\u00a0director of\u00a0partnerships.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s\u00a0go back in time.\u00a0Tell us about\u00a0the\u00a0beginning of\u00a0Dead by Daylight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mathieu C\u00f4t\u00e9:\u00a0Dead by Daylight\u00a0started as a love letter to horror films from the\u00a0\u201970s and\u00a0\u201980s. We were a\u00a0really small\u00a0team,\u00a0just about 35\u00a0people\u00a0[working on this specific title]. To give you an idea, we now have\u00a0nearly 400\u00a0people working on the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
R\u00e9mi Racine:\u00a0We presented the game at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in March 2015, a little more than a year before its launch, after about six months of production. We were looking for a\u00a0publisher, and we got\u00a0more than\u00a0a\u00a0dozen offers. We chose Starbreeze, which was the smallest of the group,\u00a0because,\u00a0at the time, I wanted to develop\u00a0our\u00a0publishing\u00a0services\u00a0internally, and they were the only ones who would allow us to do it. When we released the game in June 2016 we\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0have a big machine behind it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
How did\u00a0the public respond\u00a0back then?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dave Richard:\u00a0It was incredible. We were surprised. We knew we had something interesting on our hands, but not to that extent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
MC:\u00a0There were indications\u00a0it could really take off, though. Right before the release, at the PAX video game conference, our\u00a0booth\u00a0was next to Twitch\u2019s, the streaming service.\u00a0Content creators who walked by tried our game and we\u00a0saw\u00a0it was a perfect genre for them\u00a0\u2014 an infinite source of\u00a0thrills\u00a0and jump scares. It quickly\u00a0got a lot of buzz.\u00a0<\/p>\n
RR:\u00a0We made good on our investment\u00a0very\u00a0fast. In two\u00a0weeks\u00a0we\u2019d\u00a0sold 400,000 copies, which allowed us to earn a small profit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0expect\u00a0Dead by Daylight\u00a0to\u00a0stick around\u00a0for\u00a0such\u00a0a long time. How did\u00a0the\u00a0game become what it is today?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
MC:\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0true. At the time,\u00a0our goal was to release the game,\u00a0maybe offer\u00a0downloadable content the following fall, then move on to the next project. But when we saw the\u00a0response\u00a0we changed our plans. We kept the team, grew it, and started to build around the existing game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
RR:\u00a0One\u00a0part of the team was\u00a0working to correct\u00a0bugs, because the game had some, and another was already working on\u00a0new content. Very quickly we understood we had to\u00a0provide\u00a0continuing\u00a0support\u00a0for\u00a0the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
DR:\u00a0And\u00a0now,\u00a0Dead by Daylight\u00a0is\u00a0a franchise. Our universe is extremely interesting, and we want it to reach as many people as possible, beyond the game itself. For example, we released\u00a0The Casting of Frank Stone, a game in a completely different genre, but\u00a0within\u00a0Dead by Daylight\u2019s universe. There are graphic novels;\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0in the process of shooting\u00a0a film. For the next 10 years\u00a0and beyond,\u00a0Dead by Daylight\u00a0will keep growing and expanding\u00a0beyond the original game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dead by Daylight\u00a0is known for\u00a0crossovers with other\u00a0horror franchises, like\u00a0Halloween,\u00a0Alien\u00a0and\u00a0Evil Dead. Why did you\u00a0choose\u00a0these partnerships?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Halloween](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/halloween-key-art-1138x640.jpg\")
Halloween’s Michael Myers in Dead by Daylight. Image: Behaviour Interactive<\/p>\n
MC:\u00a0It was\u00a0pretty\u00a0natural\u00a0to want to\u00a0include\u00a0famous horror characters in a genre game, I would say. We were lucky;\u00a0the first character we\u00a0were able to get\u00a0was Michael Myers, the villain in\u00a0Halloween.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0difficult to\u00a0imagine\u00a0someone more iconic. After that, conversations\u00a0with other rights-holders\u00a0were easier.\u00a0<\/p>\n
DR:\u00a0Plus, we were used to working with partners because the DNA of the studio was to produce games for other brands. We simply applied that\u00a0expertise\u00a0to\u00a0Dead by Daylight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
RR:\u00a0Starbreeze, our partner at the time, was also familiar with this model, and so that helped structure our approach.\u00a0<\/p>\n
How\u00a0did the success of\u00a0Dead\u00a0by Daylight\u00a0change\u00a0Behaviour\u00a0Interactive?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
RR:\u00a0In the beginning, we were just developers who thought about making games. The success of\u00a0Dead by Daylight\u00a0allowed us to go further. Today, there are whole teams\u00a0supporting\u00a0our projects\u00a0\u2014\u00a0analytic, player\u00a0engagement, product management. All these teams bring information to the creators, who can then make more informed decisions. The creative side is still there, but when we\u00a0have an idea,\u00a0we\u00a0have the means and the time to\u00a0consider it more deeply.\u00a0<\/p>\n
DR:\u00a0To the players\u2019 benefit!\u00a0<\/p>\n
RR:\u00a0Financially, it also gives us a certain independence. For the last\u00a0seven\u00a0or\u00a0eight\u00a0years,\u00a0Dead by Daylight\u00a0has\u00a0allowed\u00a0us to be more selective in the projects we do for others.\u00a0<\/p>\n
MC:\u00a0What\u2019s\u00a0funny is that,\u00a0in the beginning, it was more the work-for-hire\u00a0piece\u00a0of Behaviour that allowed us to have time to develop the\u00a0Dead by Daylight\u00a0game.\u00a0Today, the\u00a0game\u2019s\u00a0popularity offers us other possibilities, like helping other studios.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Obviously, the company has also grown a lot. When Dead by Daylight was released, the Behaviour Interactive team had around 300 to 350 employees. Today, we have 1,260.<\/p>\n
What advice would you give to studios\u00a0that\u00a0are just getting started in the field?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
MC: We gave a presentation at the Game Developers Conference recently, and a lot of the audience\u2019s questions were about how to make a game as a service [a model of monetizing games via subscriptions, microtransactions, etc.]. But that\u2019s not what we did. We made a game, then we continued to maintain it, adding content and developing a service around it. Elements like the store were added later, once the players were invested.<\/p>\n
RR:\u00a0You\u00a0have to\u00a0make a game that people will like. Then you can see if it can become a service. But the game,\u00a0first and foremost,\u00a0has to\u00a0have a clientele that plays it regularly. That\u00a0creates some\u00a0retention.\u00a0
\u00a0<\/p>\n
MC:\u00a0What\u2019s\u00a0also important is to listen to the players and learn along the way.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0an exercise in humility, but\u00a0the\u00a0players can be a part of the team, in some ways.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Behaviour\u00a0Interactive\u00a0will host\u00a0a\u00a0celebration\u00a0for\u00a0fans at the Grand Quay\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0Port\u00a0of\u00a0Montreal on June 14. Several announcements\u00a0about\u00a0the future of the franchise will be\u00a0shared\u00a0at\u00a0the\u00a0event.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/maxime-johnson-1-150x150.jpg\")
\nMaxime Johnson<\/p>\n
Maxime Johnson is a freelance journalist specializing in technology, and has contributed to numerous publications, including L’actualit\u00e9, Les Affaires, Infobref, P\u00e8se sur start and Prot\u00e9gez-Vous.<\/p>\n