Behaviour Interactive buys Dead by Daylight publishing rights
Developer acquires the game it made from its publisher
Starbreeze has sold the Dead by Daylight publishing rights to Behaviour Interactive for $16 million.
The initial payment will be $4 million, following by an additional $12 million paid in stages as royalties.
Dead by Daylight was developed by Behaviour and released in 2016 for PC, with an Xbox One and PS4 version arriving a year later.
Starbreeze invested $2 million in the title's initial development, which resulted in three million copies sold with $42 million in net sales.
The deal is designed to boost Starbreeze's cash flow and free up capital for new projects. The company reported a pre-tax loss of $22.2 million for 2017, and has had to raise funds (which it did via its shares) after the delay of Overkill's The Walking Dead game.
The firm says that its strategy to widen its game portfolio has not changed.
"We received an attractive offer from Behaviour that we have assessed as better for us in both the long and short terms," says Starbreeze COO Mikael Nermar.
"We aim to be 'The Good Publisher' and are happy to be a part of giving external development partners the opportunity to own their own future. It has been a joy working with Behaviour and we wish them continued success."
Behaviour CEO Rémi Racine added: "We are incredibly proud of everything we have accomplished on Dead by Daylight, building a strong IP that has sold over 3 million copies. Our community is the backbone of our success and we are totally committed to continue investing and growing the game. We would like to thank the team at Starbreeze for their collaboration and efforts to jointly make Dead by Daylight a success."