Interview: Mathieu Cote - New York Comic Con 2016 Death by Daylight

New York Comic Con 2016 was full of comic books, cosplayers, and video games. Some came attempting to garner attention, others simply to stop by and say hi. At this year’s New York Comic Con I had the chance to speak to Producer Mathieu Cote regarding Death by Daylight and how this small indie game became such a marvelous hit.

Did you expect Death by Daylight to become as popular as it did?

Cote explained that they expected half the numbers that their game was currently generating. That this shocking surprising was expected by welcomed. Now with everyone playing and enjoying the game the team is working hard at delivering constant new patches and content for everyone to enjoy.

What new content can the community expect from the developers?

Cote told me that Michael Myers will be a playable with his own skill this Halloween. The package will also add Laurie Strode as a new playable survivalist, bringing the total to 6, and a new map designed from the films to match the suburbs where Michael Myers lives.

I asked whether more iconic horror film characters would join the roster and Cote expressed great enthusiasm of getting the “Holy Trinity” into the game. Michael Myers was only the beginning but Freddy Kruger and Jason at on the list. These characters have already been featured in Mortal Kombat and Call of Duty, why not in Death by Daylight. It seems like the perfect setting for these iconic horror legends.

I noticed from Twitch and other gaming streams that a lot of community has input on the balance of the game’s survivors and killers, do you all take that into account when altering the game?

Cote told me that the team not only communicates the community but also has their own statistics tracker to ensure that certain skills and talents aren’t giving players unfair advantages. For example, Cote told me that the Wrath is the least played killer at the moment with many citing that the character is inefficient. However based on the data the Wrath is more than effective but is simply unpopular when compared to the other killers.

I asked regarding the possibility of community support for Death by Daylight and a console release before ending the interview.

Cote said that they are indeed looking into console releases. Behaviour Interactive has a long career of talented employees who’ve ported a lot of games, so they have the experience but right now they’re focused on supporting the game on PC. Judging from the immense community of players playing this game on Steam and streaming gameplay they have their work cut out for them.

As for community-supported content, Cote stated that they are not ready for that at the moment. They would love to on day offer this to the community, and thanks to Steam the tools are available for this. However, they don’t want to image of their game to change through user content and become “silly”. Which is fair, anyone who’s seen the modding community once Skyrim went live has already experienced the dark creatures these models make.

Death by Daylight is now available on Steam for $19.99. The Michael Myers DLC content, that includes the Michael Myers, the suburbs map, and Laurie Strode will release on Halloween. If want a scary game to play with your friends this Halloween, now you have one.

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
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