I’m really concerned with this game right now.

I can't really agree with that sentiment. The player count is still strong (we had worse months in terms of player numbers) and this game survived some of the worst metas we have seen (which would have killed many other games). I thought the game might die for good during the Skull Merchant 3-gen time which was just a horrible time to play the game. But it survived, even though it definitely had a negative impact on the game.

To be honest, I don't see the game going anywhere anytime soon. Killer Clowns? Nobody talks about it anymore. TCM? Nobody plays anymore. No game holds the market like DBD does. If people want a multiplayer Killer v Survivor, dead by daylight still reigns. The main change I've seen is Marvel Rivals. People from several games have flocked to it. Once the hype goes down more for that, we'll likely see more players returning. And now that the winter event is passing, I'm sure we'll see a rise in player return as well since most games around event modifiers tends to include a lot of slugging and un fun game play on both sides, or farming which can be quite boring after a few games. Don't get me wrong, dbd has its issues and has for a while, but for as many players as it loses it gains back just as many. There's so much content it's hard to not pull people in, the only main stop gap I'd say is the looping skills level and the sheer overwhelming number of perks.

Game right now is not worth it imo. Gen rushing is still terrible, yet more perks come out for Gen completion. Camping is still a thing, this coming from a killer main. The game needs something, some kind of a "small new", other then new killers and survivors, or cosmetics. The short modes just don't cut it. The bugs are hot right now, you won't ever get away from those " special features", and the hate and toxic environment between killer and survivors has been flaming. Not worth it to play right now. I've not purchased hound master, and don't plan on buying anything else till something changes. Just won't play.

I played this game daily for a long time. About 2000 hours. A mix of survivor, but I really enjoy mastering underdogs, so I mained ghostie (p100). Every patch, it seems they keep making m1 killers weaker and weaker all in the name of mass nerfing killers or mass buffing survivors due to a few problematic (and they ARE problematic) killers overperforming or performing in an unfun way. It's just making playing a "fair" killer less and less viable, especially when playing an m1 killer. Shoulder the burden was the final straw for me. While I rarely tunnel, effectively allowing swfs to FORCE matches to always have 4 people still alive by the endgame is just the death of many m1 killers. I have not played since they put it on the ptb, and frankly, I don't even know if I'll return. It's one of my favorite games, but they are making playing a fair/nice killer as no longer being viable which only leaves sweaty killer gameplay left (unless you just want to get rolled). I'm a considerate guy, and if the survivors are getting stomped, I like to back off and give them some room, and I almost always give last hatch. However, that's becoming less and less viable, and I hate how their design philosophy is just pushing killers into slugfests and tunneling.

I mean, if you ask me people should be taking breaks. I took a 6 month off the game last year and that's fine. It's pretty obvious that a lot of people are just feeling burned out so the solution is simple: Take a break, go play something else for a while and come back to it. The game isn't going to die without your continue playing of it.

Played this game since the very beginning and currently on my longest break, maybe indefinitely. Obviously still have passion for the game if I'm here, but it has never been less fun to play. As killer or survivor, I understand why ppl dc or purposely reach second stage. People used to value fun over blood points or overall score and now between culture, streamers, and just simply the design of the game, it's always a sweaty painful experience playing Dead by Daylight. God forbid you have your messages turned on too because then you get hated on by bitter players who don't understand the game at all - which again is understandable because after adding/changing stuff year after year the game just becomes more difficult for people to understand and have empathy for each other. The game should have more incentive for survivors to help each other, anything to encourage teamwork. I don't even attempt solo q because half the time I'm left on hook till stage 2 or I get a slugging killer who forces me to bleed out (WHICH I WANT TO POINT OUT THAT DBD IS THE ONLY GAME THAT FORCES PLAYERS TO ENDURE THAT). Even if the game isn't dead by a numbers standpoint, it's still losing people left and right and people don't actually enjoy playing even if they do play. I personally could keep playing SWF if the game itself as held to a higher standard about fixing bugs and higher quality cosmetics. But even that has been HORRENDOUS. Every update or chapter comes with a whole new set of bugs and most of them exist forever and don't even get acknowledged besides an "under review" in the forum. WHICH DOES NOT MEAN CRAP BE FOR REAL. The immersion is ruined and Dead by Daylight continues to add silly non horror licenses and ugly, low quality, neon cosmetics as if it's Fortnite. Ultimately the game is alive DESPITE the devs, not because of them. BHVR is not a company that people can feel good supporting and they haven't made any attempt to show that they're getting better. I wish they'd dedicate time to improving what's there instead of pumping out more low quality crap and unfinished concepts.