Okay, so Jason Voorhees is finally in Dead by Daylight, this is huge for horror fans and for Behaviour Interactive. The release date was June 16. This has been years in the making, you know, because of all the legal stuff with the Friday the 13th franchise. Victor Miller, the original screenwriter, and Sean Cunningham, the director, they were in this big copyright dispute.
Miller claimed he owned the rights to the original screenplay and Jason, under a US copyright law that lets authors reclaim their work after 35 years. This whole thing basically froze any new content for Friday the 13th: The Game for years, it was a real mess. The protracted legal battle created a vacuum for new content, leaving fans of the iconic slasher frustrated and eager for his return to interactive media. So, Jason, or “The Slasher” as he’s called in Dead by Daylight, he dropped on June 16 across all platforms, PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch. He had a Public Test Build on May 26 for Steam players, which is pretty standard for new killers.
His power is called “Omnipresent Evil” and it lets him go invisible, move faster, and become undetectable. He can’t see survivors directly when this is active, but he tracks them through mist clouds if they’re still, or footprints if they’re moving. Then there’s the “Jump Scare” ability, which lets him teleport to a structure, break it, and burst out of stealth, screaming and revealing survivors with Killer Instinct. He also gets a temporary Haste boost after a Jump Scare.
And he can pick up “Spikes” from scrap piles or hooks to throw at survivors, which can damage them or pin injured survivors to walls. That’s a lot of mechanics, a lot to learn for survivors and killers, fundamentally altering the game’s meta and offering fresh strategic depth for both sides of the chase. Behaviour Interactive, the developers, they’re a big studio now. They’re Canada’s largest independent game developer and publisher. They have over 1,200 employees across studios in Montreal, Toronto, the UK, and the Netherlands.
Some sources say 1,300 employees, some say 1,458 in 2025. Dead by Daylight itself has been a massive success for them, it surpassed 60 million players on all platforms by 2022. Some estimates put total players at over 70 million by June 2026. The game was originally released in 2016, and it moved to Unreal Engine 5 in 2024, showcasing the studio’s commitment to continuous improvement and technological advancement. Their ability to secure such a high-profile license further solidifies their standing in the global gaming industry. Player counts are looking good too. Dead by Daylight had an all-time peak of 170,073 concurrent players on Steam on June 25, 2026.
That’s a lot of people playing. The game has sold an estimated 19.3 million copies on Steam, with around $251 million in gross revenue from Steam alone. Other estimates for total gross revenue since release are even higher, like $580 million. It’s a consistent performer, demonstrating the enduring appeal of its asymmetrical horror gameplay loop and its successful content pipeline.
The addition of a character as iconic as Jason Voorhees is expected to further boost these impressive engagement and revenue figures. They also released new outfits for Jason, like “Backwoods Terror” and “Death Forsaken” and “Depths of Despair.” These are all different looks for him, which is what players expect from Dead by Daylight DLC. It’s not just the killer, it’s the cosmetics too, which form a significant part of the game’s monetization strategy and player customization options. And a new survivor, Shane Wiigwaas, came with the update, which is interesting because players couldn’t test him in the Public Test Build, adding an element of surprise to the full release. This whole Jason situation, it shows how much IP can be tied up in legal battles, and then when it finally breaks free, it’s a big deal for the community. The Friday the 13th lawsuit, between Victor Miller and Horror Inc., it was about who owned what rights to Jason and the franchise elements.
Miller owned the copyright to the original screenplay, but Horror Inc. owned the trademark for the hockey mask and the adult Jason look. It was a mess, and it stopped new Friday the 13th game content for years, creating a complex legal quagmire that seemed insurmountable. So getting Jason into Dead by Daylight is a huge win, a testament to Behaviour Interactive’s persistence and probably a lot of money. This landmark licensing deal not only brings a beloved horror icon back into the gaming spotlight but also sets a significant precedent for how valuable, yet legally entangled, intellectual properties can be successfully integrated into live-service titles.
It reinforces Dead by Daylight’s status as the definitive horror crossover game, promising exciting future collaborations for its dedicated player base.