Dead by Daylight is an asymmetric multiplayer survival horror game developed and published by Behaviour Interactive. Initially Starbreeze Studios was the publisher of the game,…
Dead by Daylight
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Starbreeze Studios is a Swedish video game developer and publisher founded in 1998 in Uppsala, Sweden, now headquartered in Stockholm. The studio is best known for the Payday cooperative heist shooter series and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, and was the original publisher of Dead by Daylight before Behaviour Interactive took over publishing duties. Starbreeze went through severe financial difficulties and a corporate restructuring beginning in 2018, including securities fraud charges against former executives, but has continued operating under new leadership since.
Starbreeze’s early catalog included The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay in 2004, a licensed first-person action game that received unusually strong reviews for a movie tie-in. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons released in 2013, directed by Josef Fares, and became one of the most acclaimed narrative games of its year. The game controls two brothers simultaneously with a single controller, telling an emotional story without dialogue as they journey to find a cure for their dying father. It won multiple awards and remains one of the studio’s most respected creative works.
Payday: The Heist released in 2011, a cooperative first-person shooter where up to four players execute increasingly elaborate heists. Payday 2 followed in 2013, expanding the heist roster, character customization, and skill systems significantly, and became the studio’s most commercially important and longest-supported title, receiving content updates for years after launch. The franchise built a dedicated cooperative shooter community and established Starbreeze as a specialist in heist-based multiplayer design. Payday 3 released in September 2023 under Starbreeze’s own publishing after the company’s restructuring, though its launch was hampered by always-online server requirements that drew criticism.
Starbreeze originally published Dead by Daylight, developed by Behaviour Interactive, at its launch in June 2016. Behaviour Interactive later took over publishing duties for the game directly as it grew into one of the most successful asymmetrical multiplayer games ever made. Starbreeze’s early involvement is a small but notable part of the studio’s publishing history, distinct from its primary identity as the developer of Payday and Brothers.
Starbreeze’s financial situation collapsed following the disastrous 2018 launch of Overkill’s The Walking Dead, a game in development for years that launched to severe criticism and commercial failure. The company entered a company reorganization process in late 2018 amid a severe liquidity crisis. Swedish authorities later charged former CEO Bo Andersson Klint and other former executives with securities fraud related to the company’s financial reporting before the crisis. Starbreeze emerged from reorganization in 2019 under new leadership and has continued operating, primarily focused on the Payday franchise.
Dead by Daylight is an asymmetric multiplayer survival horror game developed and published by Behaviour Interactive. Initially Starbreeze Studios was the publisher of the game,…