Pink Hook has been hooked. The Darkest Dungeon dev has been acquired by Behaviour Interactive, the corporate behind Lifeless By Daylight.
Which might, in a really perfect world, be excellent news: A mutually helpful association that will get Pink Hook the help it must make new video games and that provides Behaviour a stake in them. That is actually how the statements from every firm’s execs are promoting it, anyway. Behaviour CEO Remi Racine says it is a part of a plan to “make Behaviour synonymous with horror.” Pink Hook co-founder Chris Bourassa says the deal will let the studio “[open] the door to new potentialities.”
“The way in which is lit. The trail is obvious.” Right this moment, we’re ecstatic to announce our acquisition of Pink Hook Studios. Darkest Dungeon has lengthy been a collection we’ve admired, loved (and perhaps even misplaced slightly sleep over) as followers, and the chance to welcome Pink Hook as a completely… pic.twitter.com/3SeO6kEZWsSeptember 24, 2024
All of which sounds good to me, however the issue is the context. Not solely has Behaviour made a bit of layoffs this 12 months (which, to be truthful, makes it removed from distinctive—it has been a horrible time basically to work in recreation dev), however this announcement comes a mere week after Behaviour closed down Midwinter Leisure, the group behind ill-fated Lifeless By Daylight PvE spin-off Venture T. Behaviour had acquired Midwinter again in 2022, however killed off the studio—and Venture T—after an inner playtest of the sport “yielded unsatisfactory general outcomes.”
In order a Darkest Dungeon fan, take into account me hopeful Pink Hook fares higher. I believe it is in a greater place than Midwinter was: It comes below the Behaviour umbrella with a well-liked collection (or, effectively, a very fashionable first recreation and a barely extra controversial sequel) already below its belt. That is a greater basis to construct off than Midwinter had. That studio solely had shut-down F2P shooter Scavengers to its title when it turned a Behaviour subsidiary.
Constructing on Darkest Dungeon actually sounds just like the plan. The acquisition will let Pink Hook “focus absolutely on reworking Darkest Dungeon into an absolute juggernaut of the darkish fantasy style,” stated Bourassa. His co-founder agrees: “There’s a shared love of Darkest Dungeon, and with Behaviour’s assist we will delve even deeper into the franchise,” stated Pink Hook’s Tyler Sigman. What’s that gonna be, then—Darkest Daylight? Lifeless By Dungeon?
