If 2024 has proven anything in the gaming industry, it’s that nothing is sacred, almost nothing is safe, and even if you have a long-running and successful string of titles that are still being played and enjoyed, you’re not safe from getting laid off. We’ve covered numerous stories over the last five months about how more and more video game companies keep laying off their staff, and it’s depressing. Yet, we have to report that Dead By Daylight’s studio Behaviour has announced that 90 people will be laid off from its team. Specifically, the ones who are in their Montreal studio.
As noted by VGC, Behaviour has released a statement about the layoffs, though if you actually read it, it’s not about the people getting laid off, but played as a kind of “inspirational message” for how the company is going to “focus on what it does best” to reassert itself in the gaming space. It noted that despite it facing competition, it will continue to make horror titles that will focus on their “historical strengths:”
“These strengths have inspired clear ambitions for the Company’s future – lead in horror, lead in service, and explore the possibilities of location-based entertainment. To pursue this clarified vision, Behaviour will implement multiple strategic changes to its corporate structure, improving the distinction between its product, production, business development, and marketing resources.”
So, again, that doesn’t talk about the layoffs that have happened! It’s almost as though the layoffs are the “cost of doing business,” which is a tone that many companies have adopted to make themselves seem less monstrous, even though they still come off that way.
Furthermore, while some will look at the Dead By Daylight publisher as only doing a “small number of cuts,” as 90 people being laid off from a staff of 1300 “isn’t as bad as it could’ve been,” there is a catch to that.
Earlier in the year, another 45 people from that Montreal studio we mentioned earlier got laid off. That puts the number at 135 people total, and that means that 10% of its staff has been cut in 2024 alone. Plus, should things not play to their “historical strengths,” it’s possible that more layoffs from the company could be coming.
To be fair, it’s not just Behaviour that is doing these layoffs. Square Enix, Take-Two, Sony, Xbox and so many more have played a hand in this in 2024 and in past years. One can only hope that this stops soon, or there won’t be any more companies to have people laid off from.
