Dead by Daylight studio Behaviour confirms layoffs due to 'changing market conditions'

Behaviour Interactive is the latest notable game developer to lay off workers. The Dead by Daylight studio confirmed to Game Developer that the cuts affected less than three percent of the total workforce. Kotaku first reported on the layoffs, stating that they took place earlier this month and affected around 45 people across several departments. It initially appeared that the layoffs were limited to Behaviour's Montreal headquarters, but the publisher hasn't confirmed whether that's the case.

"Recently, changing market conditions necessitated adjusting the scope of several Behaviour projects," Behaviour told the publications in a statement. "In these situations, our preference is always to reassign talent to other projects. Unfortunately, this option is not always available to us. These departures represented less than three percent of our total workforce."

Behaviour bought several studios last year, including ones in the UK and the Netherlands as part of a deeper expansion into Europe. While much of the company's focus is on Dead by Daylight (a new Alan Wake-focused chapter will arrive later this month), it has been working on other projects, such as last year's Meet Your Maker.

According to estimates, more than 9,000 workers in the video games industry were laid off in 2023. We're just 18 days into 2024, and there have already been more than 3,000 layoffs at gaming and gaming-adjacent companies (including Twitch and Discord). Unity alone is reducing its headcount by around 1,800 — a quarter of its workforce.