Behavior Interactive’s asymetrical horror title Dead by Daylight has grown a lot in the two years since its release, to the point where it even incorporates licensed content from popular horror movie franchises like Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, and Saw. As part of a recent 2.0 revamp, Behavior also brought microtransactions to the game in the form of an in-game cosmetics shop, but it also chose to forego loot boxes in favor of a system where players can simply buy what they want. During an interview with PC Gamer, the studio explained why it took such a route.
The full interview with Dead by Daylight game director Mathieu Côté touched on many different aspects of the game and how it has slowly evolved over time. With the inclusion of an in-game cosmetics shop, it was only inevitable that the subject of loot boxes would be brought up, and Côté didn’t shy away from the issue. According to Côté, loot boxes can work well for F2P or mobile games, but for Dead by Daylight, it just felt better to offer players a more transparent direct-buy system:
“We looked at it and we went, is it worth the backlash? There’s going to be some. But in a sense we knew that putting in a store would have a backlash too. As soon as you ask people for a dollar, people have expectations and tell you ‘it’s not fair, I should get it for free.’ So we knew there was going to be a backlash when we introduced microtransactions. We wanted to do it in a way that felt fair and driven by commitment and engagement with the game.
So the loot box is a great model that I think it works well for mobile games a lot. The appeal of a lottery or something like that scratches an itch for a lot of people. But we wanted to present [our cosmetics] as options for people to pick and choose whatever they want. It felt better. In the end, that’s it. It just felt better.”
Many of the lessons Behavior Interactive learned from Dead by Daylight are no-doubt also being applied to the studio’s new game Deathgarden, a game that functions in much the same manner but also swaps out the horror theme for more of a futuristic science fiction vibe. You can also grab Dead by Daylight on the cheap as part of Humble Bundle’s newest game bundle.