Behaviour Interactive, the Canadian game developer behind multiplayer survival horror Dead by Daylight, has confirmed that it’s laying off a number of its staff.
In a statement sent to TechRadar Gaming (TRG), Behaviour Interactive said that the decision to cut staff comes after recent “changing market conditions necessitated adjusting the scope of several Behaviour projects.” It stated that it’s not always able to “reassign” staff when this happens.
“In these situations, our preference is always to reassign talent to other projects. Unfortunately, this option is not always available to us,” the statement reads. “These departures represented less than three percent of our total workforce.”
The studio didn’t provide any further information regarding the areas of the studio that have been affected by the staff cuts, nor an exact number of people impacted. Behaviour Interactive's website states that the company has over 1,300 employees across its different studios.
These sadly aren’t the only games industry layoffs to have been reported this week. Yesterday (January 18), it was also confirmed that CI Games (the publisher of 2023’s Lords of the Fallen and owner of its developer, Hexworks) is laying off around 10% of its staff. In a statement sent to TRG, CI Games’ CEO, Marek Tyminski, described the decision, which was made to “preserve business strength and stability,” as “tough but necessary.”
Earlier this week, development studio Lost Boys Interactive, which is owned by Borderlands developer Gearbox Software (which itself is owned by Embracer Group) announced that it had made the “difficult decision to restructure.” In a statement sent to TRG, a spokesperson said that the decision had been made in order to “ensure we can succeed in spite of headwinds facing the industry right now.”
If you’re looking for some new games to play, you can find some great titles from smaller studios in our roundups of the best indie games and best indie horror games.
