Dead by Daylight director wants Stranger Things content to be the last to leave

Dead by Daylight's Mathieu Cote spoke to Stranger Things, the complications of licenses, what exactly happens with the leaving content and more.

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In a live game like Dead by Daylight where there are so many iconic licenses in play, keeping everything on the level can’t be an easy balancing act. We’re seeing this pretty soon with the exit of Stranger Things content, which will see the Hawkins Laboratory map leave and the characters and killer become unavailable if you haven’t already purchased them. It’s a bummer to be sure, but we recently caught up to Dead by Daylight game director Mathieu Côté to talk about the specifics of the content leaving and how this came to be.

Pretty much, it comes down to the matter of those aforementioned licenses. As Côté explains in the video below, there is rarely ever a thing as a usage license that lasts forever on live service products.

“It’s almost impossible for these kind of deals to be an infinite duration… That does not exist,” Côté explained. “My job as head of partnerships is to make sure the partnership flourishes and everybody’s getting a lot out of this. Unfortunately, in some cases, someone is not getting what they need or situations change and things have to stop.”

For Côté, it’s unfortunate, but it’s also reality. His goal is to keep things moving forward and try to keep it from becoming anything close to a regular or even semi-regular occurrence.

“It is the first time it’s happened and, if I have my way, it’s the last time it happens,” Côté pledged.

The exit of Stranger Things content will officially occur on November 17. It’s not completely dire though. As Côté also points out, the map may be leaving, but if you have the characters before they’re out of the shop, you’ll still be able to play Nancy Wheeler, Steve Harrington, the Demogorgon, and all Stranger Things-related outfits and perks. If you have them before the November 17 cutoff, they’ll be safe in your collection, so be sure to snap the Stranger Things Chapter content up before then if you want them.

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Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    September 14, 2021 7:00 AM

    TJ Denzer posted a new article, Dead by Daylight director wants Stranger Things content to be the last to leave

    • reply
      September 14, 2021 7:23 AM

      Was pretty shocking to see this.
      Freddy DLC has had some controversy in the past, with their Switch licenses being weird... but a full revoking of a license? That's pretty insane. Not only that, Demogorgan is universally loved by a lot of Killer mains, because of how well balanced he is, and how fun he is to play... he's often seen as the model of good balancing between chase skills and killer abilities.

      My only guess is that they are making their own game. But it's kinda dumb, because DbD is bigger than any game the IP holders could make from scratch... cross promo makes way more sense.

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