The long-running success of Dead by Daylight wasn’t the result of a carefully planned live-service strategy. According to its developers, the game’s popularity was more of a “happy accident.”
At Game Developers Conference 2026, Dave Richard and Mathieu Côté from Behaviour Interactive explained that the studio never originally set out to build a traditional live-service title.
Instead, the team simply created a game they believed in and kept improving it over time. Côté admitted that when the game first launched in 2016, it was far from the polished experience players know today—it was “a shell” of what it would later become. However, the core idea and vision were already there.
Over the years, the developers continuously supported and expanded the game, turning it into one of the most successful online horror titles. Its longevity has also been boosted by major collaborations, including crossovers with characters like Freddy Fazbear and appearances by celebrities such as Nicolas Cage.
A decade later, Dead by Daylight remains a rare live-service success story in a gaming landscape where many hyped multiplayer titles struggle to survive.