Dead By Daylight Is Involved With NFTs — Fans Aren’t Happy
Dead By Daylight developers, Behaviour Interactive, have found themselves in hot water after officially revealing today that “The Cenobite” models used in their most recent Hellraiser licensed DLC are also being used by Boss Protocol to sell limited run NFTs. In a tweet, Dead By Daylight’s official Twitter account says “Behaviour worked with Boss Protocol over several months to adapt in-game models for use as NFTs and approved them prior to the release of Pinhead in DbD. The NFTs have a chance to grant access to the #Hellraiser chapter of DbD.”
NFTs or non-fungible tokens, exist on the Ethereum blockchain. Unlike typical cryptocurrency tokens, NFTs can hold additional data and information often coming in the form of music, animations or images. These tokens can be sold by anyone and any currency can be requested by the seller but typically NFTs involve mass quantities of cryptocurrency — which is precisely why the Dead By Daylight community is more than a little peeved.
Cryptocurrency is often linked to the “destruction of the environment” — largely due to the way it is created. Essentially, there are cryptocurrency miners. To mine specific currencies, their node (the computer they’re mining with) has to solve a number of mathematical equations faster than their peers. While an automated process, this process requires heavy computation from the nodes running the crypto software which in turn burns a lot of energy. On Ethereum alone, (there are many different brands of crypto currency) it is estimated that a single transaction consumes “as much electricity as the conventional household over a day and a half. ”
This is largely due to the Proof Of Work system that Ethereum and many cryptos are built on; forcing machines to churn through energy and processing power to race against each other for algorithmic answers so they can reap rewards.
I personally believe the ire behind crpytocurrencies and more specifically, NFTs, is further exacerbated by lack of tangible usefulness. There is something to be said about the massive pollution that has been wrought at the hands of big tech or companies like Amazon, but their services feel more tangible — especially to individuals in rural areas, busy families, etc. It feels easier to hand wave the downside’s to next day shipping when we can justify the use thereof. Crpytocurrency and consequently NFTs feel adjacent to a rich man’s ponzi scheme. A poker table where only the rich can sit and further engorge their own pockets, or the pockets of their fellow socialites.
Of course, the news surrounding Dead By Daylight comes merely days after Valve, the owner and operator of Steam, has issued an ordinance against hosting any games that would allow the trading or rewarding of cryptocurrencies and NFTs. It would appear that the “Pinhead” model from the Dead By Daylight “Hellraiser” chapter has merely been flipped and sold externally to be used by Boss Protocol as an NFT, and doesn’t tether into and isn’t offered within Dead By Daylight as a title. Boss Protocol’s own FAQ further supports this stating that nothing in game can be unlocked via the NFTs, and that Doug Bradley’s voicelines having been previously removed from the game has nothing to do with their work. This may mean that DBD is safe from being excised from the Steam platform.
However, this doesn’t mean that the community won’t be taking initiative and stepping back from the game themselves as a means to boycott the partnership Behaviour has made with Boss Protocol. This couldn’t come at a worse time considering recent controversy regarding the game’s MMR system, which has also lead to much community disdain. To place things in perspective, July of 2021 saw 62,000 players actively playing Dead by Daylight on Steam while the last 30 days have seen only 46,000. That is a large contrast when compared to the same dates as last year; 40,000 players in July of 2020 reducing to 33,000 in October.
With a new Dead By Daylight update launching tomorrow, October 19th, we will have to see how the community turns out and keep an eye on whether or not Behaviour acts on any of the pressure levied against them by their player-base. The “Hellraiser” Chapter will continue to be sold on all platforms and in game via the Auric Cell in-game currency.
UPDATE:
In a previous tweet from Dead By Daylight official, they discussed how the negotiating process happened. It would appear that via their verbiage, they acquired the license to use Pinhead from the company that would then use the assets for NFTs. This leaves a chance that while developing the Hellraiser Chapter, Behaviour Interactive didn’t realize the assets they had shared with their license holder would be flipped to make NFTs. It is also possible that the tweet published today by Dead By Daylight, essentially endorsing the project, is something that is contractually required by Behaviour to uphold their licensing agreement. To turn the ship around, their only recourse may be to terminate the license agreement, in turn eliminating Pinhead from Dead By Daylight; something I’m not remotely convinced they will do but will undoubtedly be pressured to do by frustrated fans.
