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The Halloween License could be in danger

gatsby
gatsby Member Posts: 2,533

With the recent Stranger Things announcement, I am seriously scared for the Halloween Chapter. Stranger Things was a massive license for Dead by Daylight and they were forced to drop it before Season 4, which would have inevitably brought more attention to the game and been an amazing opportunity to sell more DLCs and cosmetics. It's been almost five years since the Halloween Chapter initially released and my guess is that renewing that license is drastically more expensive and complicated due to the success of the new Halloween movie and its upcoming sequels.

Haddonfield hasn't had an update since its release and has been skipped over in the Realm Beyond Updates. As long as that map stays the way it is, its a sign Behavior isn’t sure about its future and is unwilling to invest resources into it. Halloween is probably the most iconic license in Dead By Daylight, but given the recent news, there's no guarantee Behavior will be able keep it. The Halloween license could be in grave danger.

Comments

  • MeltingPenguins
    MeltingPenguins Member Posts: 3,742

    the question is always: how do the license holders feel about dbd?

    from all i'm seeing it might easily be that netflix pulled the plug because they want to do their own thing (though.... what are the chances any dbd fans will play that now?).

    Ghostie might be save as funworld seems keen on dbd.

    Halloween might be save as well, given the recent rework for laurie.

  • gatsby
    gatsby Member Posts: 2,533
    edited August 2021

    Things change quickly. Stranger Things cosmetics were released in June, which should have been a sign of a good relationship for the license, yet it was announced to be leaving in August.

  • Dito175
    Dito175 Member Posts: 1,395

    All of them are in constant danger, but they've been here for 5 years. I would be more worried about newer ips like Resident Evil.

  • Guest1567432
    Guest1567432 Member Posts: 728

    Removal of Haddonfield......Ok.

  • KingFrost
    KingFrost Member Posts: 3,014

    I imagine that other licenses have agreements aren't quite as fragile as this one. It's soured me a bit on Netflix tbh. Especially since BHVR is basically giving everyone a chance to buy it at a significantly reduced cost, probably at their own cost.

  • GentlemanFridge
    GentlemanFridge Member Posts: 5,738

    Just because it doesn't apply to other licenses now, doesn't mean it never will.

  • TAG
    TAG Member Posts: 12,871

    Was the Stranger Things license renewed in June? If not, then I don't think this is a valid comparison.

  • Dwight_Fairfield
    Dwight_Fairfield Member Posts: 7,047

    The Halloween license recently got renewed. Its fine for now.

  • MojoTheFabulous
    MojoTheFabulous Member Posts: 2,015

    Considering they updated Laurie recently I feel like Halloween will be fine. Plus losing one license doesn't mean they are all going to start dropping off. Payday 2 had to remove the Scarface DLC last year but all the other licensed content is still there.

  • MonsterInMyMind
    MonsterInMyMind Member Posts: 2,744

    Halloween license was just renewed no this doesn't apply however if the IP's decide they want to renegotiate obviously they can but i doubt it as we just saw them finish negotiations.

  • TheMadCat
    TheMadCat Member Posts: 2,203

    Maybe the contract said to create X number of cosmetics, and they wanted to be able to sell as much as they could before the license is gone.

  • justbecause
    justbecause Member Posts: 1,521

    Halloween isn't making any game so I don't see why would they lose license to it also as others said it's already renewed

  • miketheratguy
    miketheratguy Member Posts: 2,719

    Thank you General. I've kept up with the forum and have missed the chance to share some (occasionally useful) opinions as well. I think that some of the things that caused my break were somewhat misconstrued, or at least the intention behind them was, so I guess it's just my responsibility to be more careful about how I express things in the future. Honestly I didn't think that anyone would notice or care that I was gone, so I sincerely appreciate your warm welcome. :)

    As for the matter at hand, I think a number of us are in agreement. Do I hate the swamp maps? Oh boy, you bet. But as far as I can tell they work as intended and aren't directly attributable to any game-breaking technical issues. For that reason, even though I hate the maps, I would be very disappointed to see them removed. Why? Because (A) there are other players who do like them, and (B), more importantly, the removal of things that we were previously given is not something that I think should be celebrated or encouraged. If something is broken and can't be fixed, sure. And if it's a contractual thing as this obviously is, I do understand. But to openly applaud the decision is to say that we're perfectly okay with it in principle. That does nothing but encourage it to happen again.

  • Jago
    Jago Member Posts: 1,742

    Honestly, wouldnt be a big loss. Michael is outdated and Haddonfield... Still exists.

  • Dwight_Fairfield
    Dwight_Fairfield Member Posts: 7,047

    Hear hear. I love Mikey and the whole Halloween license. Judging by the stats on Mikey's pick rates, so would a hell of a lot of other players miss him, too.

  • miketheratguy
    miketheratguy Member Posts: 2,719

    Yeah I mean to be perfectly honest I don't especially love games with Michael myself, but I would never celebrate or advocate for his removal. I feel like doing so would be extremely selfish on my part.

    The swamp maps, Trickster, certain perks and whatnot. I would join a discussion about how these things could potentially be improved but unless they were legitimately interfering with the functionality of the game I would NEVER call for their outright removal nor be happy to see them taken from others.

  • Gamedozer7
    Gamedozer7 Member Posts: 2,657

    Netflix is going in ro some kind of gaming it could have something to do with that as well. At least I'm hoping

  • Jago
    Jago Member Posts: 1,742

    Dont take that personally mate, it's just my opinion saying I dont find enjoyment with the content of this chapter. Nothing more.

  • miketheratguy
    miketheratguy Member Posts: 2,719

    Don't worry, I don't. And I appreciate you saying that. I do understand not liking certain characters or maps in this game, I just don't understand being happy about any of it being removed. At bare minimum there are other people who do like those things, and being happy about their removal is basically being happy that other people lose out on something that they love. More importantly though, I just don't want our community to be okay with this kind of thing. We can't prevent it, but we shouldn't be okay with it. If anything, BHVR needs to know that we don't find it acceptable, so they should do what they can to prevent anything like this happening again. NO player should be robbed of their favorite content.

  • SnakeSound222
    SnakeSound222 Member Posts: 4,467

    While it would be really unfortunate to lose Michael and Laurie, it would also mean the removal of the hell known as Haddonfield, which would be one of the greatest changes in the history of DBD. ######### that map.

  • Apollos
    Apollos Member Posts: 1,052

    Don't the Akkads have control over most of the franchise minus Halloween II?

    It's a bummer because I'd love some HII cosmetics, but I don't see them wanting to pay Universal for that. Same thing with every Evil Dead movie and Ash vs. Evil Dead belonging to different people.

  • calem
    calem Member Posts: 533

    I don't think we have to worry too much about old movie licenses. I believe Netflix is pulling Stranger Things because of their gaming platform, so they want to draw all the gamers who love Stranger Things to that, and away from DBD (because they're most likely creating a ST game). The new season being released next year will also generate a lot of hype so more people will be invested into it, and with the ST chapter being available in DBD, less people would buy content from Netflix's games. I don't personally believe it got too expensive for BHVR to afford, I just think Netflix said 'no' because they want Stranger Things all to themselves.

  • ProfoundEnding
    ProfoundEnding Member Posts: 2,334
    edited August 2021

    Why should it cause concern? This wasn't BHVR, this was Netflix.

    And as far as I'm aware, Netflix does not have the right to any other licensed characters in this game.

    And do you really think the other license holders are gonna see this and go "oh, let's remove our licenses just because Netflix did. Even though it's giving us free money, screw it!" *eye roll*

  • miketheratguy
    miketheratguy Member Posts: 2,719

    First, we aren't privy to the specifics. We don't know exactly how this came to pass.

    Second, it should concern people because...well, because it happened, that's why. When something like this happens, we can react happily, we can react with indifference, or we can react with concern. The fact that this is taking place indicates that it can take place again, and that should give people some pause. To just wave this off as if it's not a worrisome development is more cavalier than I'm comfortable being.

  • ProfoundEnding
    ProfoundEnding Member Posts: 2,334

    But it always could have taken place, at any moment. All contracts are temporary, not permanent. BHVR has to renew all of their contracts every year or two or else they lose the rights to that content.

    You can be upset that this is happening, but concerned? Again, why be concerned? Why would this indicate that any other license will follow suit? Netflix clearly either asked for too much money or decided on their own not to renew at all because they're branching out into gaming themselves and don't want any of their own content to potentially compete with themselves.

    The other licenses are not connected to this issue, in any way, shape or form.

  • miketheratguy
    miketheratguy Member Posts: 2,719

    I never said that the other licenses were connected. My point is that this has taken everybody by surprise, which would suggest that no one expected it to happen. Now that it has, it's quickly become a stark reality that it can happen again. If BHVR worked out a deal that allowed for some of the game's content to be removed, it's reasonable to be concerned that more content may be removed in the future due to potentially similar agreements.

    Besides which, my point in these discussions has been less about the concern that it can happen again and more about the concern that positive or indifferent reactions could suggest to BHVR that we're okay with this kind of thing. It's my opinion that we should not be. We may not be able to control it, but we shouldn't just shrug our shoulders about it either.

  • ProfoundEnding
    ProfoundEnding Member Posts: 2,334

    Obviously we don't know and can't ever know, but I don't think BHVR was aware that this was going to happen. I find it very hard to believe that they made a 2 year deal with Netflix and knew that the license was gonna come to an end and not be renewed after those two years.

    Especially since Netflix has just recently come out and said that they're going to branch out into gaming. That almost clearly screams that they don't want any potential competition in regards to their licensed content like DBD and decided on their own not to renew.

    Scott's video put it into a good perspective: https://youtu.be/nNVMXsn_l28

  • DetailedDetriment
    DetailedDetriment Member Posts: 2,632

    No more Haddonfield. Pog

  • miketheratguy
    miketheratguy Member Posts: 2,719

    No, my guess is that this isn't something that BHVR planned to happen, but that's actually one of the reasons why it concerns me. It would have been nice for them to have worked something out from the getgo that would have avoided this situation. Maybe it wasn't possible, maybe it just wasn't considered. I accept that this is a contractual matter, and I don't personally feel owed the details, but it's a shame that it happened and I just hope that other licenses aren't similarly vulnerable to this type of thing.

    Someone mentioned that maybe Netflix is planning their own game. With the next season due pretty soon (I would think?) I do wonder if that played a part in this.

  • Okapi
    Okapi Member Posts: 839

    They renewed the Halloween license earlier this year. Can we stop with the doomerism?

    Netflix declined to renew their DBD contract because they want their IP to be exclusive to the gaming streaming service they are launching next year. It has nothing to do with DBD the game or any other license.

  • Sickerton
    Sickerton Member Posts: 77

    I would be more worried about the Nightmare on Elm Street content, honestly. The only other game which has had Freddy Krueger as a guest character under the must-be-reboot-Freddy stipulation (Mortal Kombat 9) has been intentionally discontinued to purchase, and when it came time for DBD to add another Wes Craven icon they found it less of a hassle to get rights from a mask company and make an OC knockoff instead.