Despite bugs, errors, and much criticism, Dead by Daylight remains a constant success. What is the reason for this? We dare to analyze.
The horror game Dead by Daylight has steadily grown over the last few years, and this is not only due to its gameplay but also to a pretty clever marketing and licensing strategy. Next, Behaviour seems to target an audience that was hardly reachable before – fans of shooters.
Bugs plague Dead by Daylight repeatedly: Dead by Daylight is fun – no question about it. On paper, the 4vs1 horror game is accessible and interesting. However, the success of the game can hardly be attributed to gameplay alone. Because at more or less regular intervals, the game is plagued by major bugs. Players lose their game progress built up over years, killers spawn with the wrong weapon in hand, or survivors can suddenly fly across the map.
In addition, there are almost constant bugs in matchmaking. I believe that since I started playing Dead by Daylight over 3 years ago, there have been maybe 3 months where matchmaking has worked flawlessly.
Powerful licenses make the game even stronger
Behaviour is clever when it comes to licenses: No matter how often the developers are accused in the subreddit of “having no idea and ruining the game”, the company is quite smart when it comes to securing licenses and characters. In addition to famous killers like Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, and Leatherface, the uniquely created killers like the Huntress or the Trapper are doing quite well.
And with each major license that Behaviour secures, the power against other licensors only grows. I can well imagine that in negotiations it sounds quite persuasive when one can say: “We already have the Halloween franchise, Nightmare on Elm Street, Ghostface, Leatherface, and also Stranger Things on board.”
If the developers continue on this course, Dead by Daylight will likely continue to grow in 2020 and be able to secure even more major licenses, which in turn will attract even more fans. A brilliant cycle, and I’m really curious to see when the end will come.
Shooter players are the next target audience
Shooter fans are the next target: With the upcoming DLC “Chains of Hate,” Behaviour is targeting a new audience – the shooter players. Those who only shoot with weapons in Call of Duty, Battlefield, or Destiny do not immediately find their way to Dead by Daylight. After all, most killers only have melee attacks or very strange types of projectiles – like the Huntress’s axes or the Plague’s spit. However, with the upcoming killer “Deathslinger,” there is a killer with a gun who can actually shoot and still not stray too far from the original feeling of the horror game.
But the Deathslinger brings back something else that killers in Dead by Daylight have sorely missed: the feeling of power.
As a killer, you are actually the “Power Role,” driving survivors before you and representing a significant threat. However, with increasing rank and more experienced opponents, many killers feel more like a punching bag and a teabagging template rather than someone who poses a threat and controls the flow of the game.
The new killer Deathslinger brings that back through a pretty simple mechanic. When he hits a survivor with his spear gun, he can pull the hit survivor towards him. This is actually just a small action to bring the survivor within range for a hit, but the gameplay feel is fantastic. I have caught myself smiling with satisfaction more than once and thought: “I decide where you go. Come here.” Being able to pull the survivor to a new position is fantastic.
A little impression of this is given by this gameplay video from Ussylis:
The Deathslinger finally brings back the power to the power role of the game. Together with the fact that he can use a gun as the only killer, this could be quite enticing to a new audience. Even though Dead by Daylight does not have separate hitboxes for headshots and the like, it does require some skill to hit with the spear thrower. The Deathslinger thus offers a greater skill cap compared to some other killers and could keep newcomers from the shooter genre entertained for a long time.
Dead by Daylight is a constant success on Steam
The success validates Dead by Daylight: No matter how skeptical one may be about the changes in Dead by Daylight, the success over the last few years simply vindicates the developers. The simultaneous average player counts fluctuate only slightly – alone in the last year between 17,000 and 23,000. The numbers in “Peak”, meaning the most players online at the same time, however, fluctuate between 26,000 and 75,000 on Steam. But a long-term downward trend cannot be recognized. Instead, Dead by Daylight has been holding its own recently in the top 25 on Steam.
No matter how much one may find changes to certain perks (like Hex: Ruin) or other disliked adjustments. Dead by Daylight does so many things right despite all the criticism that it continually attracts new players – or does not scare off the old ones.
Do you agree with my analysis and find the developers’ approach quite clever?
