Video Games
Behaviour Interactive Acquires ‘7 Days to Die’ Developers The Fun Pimps
Dead by Daylight developers Behaviour Interactive are expanding their reach in horror gaming, announcing the acquisition of The Fun Pimps, developers of the upcoming survival horror game 7 Days to Die. The partnership aims to provide extra support and resources to The Fun Pimps team as they continue development of their debut title.
Since its Early Access launch in 2013, 7 Days to Die has sold more than 20 million copies. The Fun Pimps’ partnership with Behaviour will work to reward the game’s community by supporting the project’s development and expanding its resources, without any change to its creative leadership.
Under the new collaboration, The Fun Pimps will continue to lead all development on 7 Days to Die. Behaviour will provide additional support, expertise, and production capacity, giving the team the resources necessary to accelerate development of their existing road map and give players more of the game they love.
“We’re truly excited to welcome The Fun Pimps,” stated Rémi Racine, Behaviour’s CEO and Co-Founder. ‘’Over more than a decade, 7 Days to Die has established itself as a beloved franchise, inspiring more than 20 million players. It fits naturally within Behaviour’s goal of assembling a diverse, high-quality horror portfolio. It’s also an ideal complement to Dead by Daylight – both games have steadily grown alongside their communities. We look forward to celebrating the game’s community by supporting The Fun Pimps’ creative vision.”
“This is a huge moment for our game and our business,” stated Richard Huenink, The Fun Pimps’ Co-Founder. “When we started this company thirteen years ago, we never imagined 7 Days to Die would become what it is today. That growth has come from our community, who have driven our game forward from the beginning. To keep giving them what they deserve, we knew we needed a partner who shared our ambitious vision for the future. Behaviour turned out to be exactly that.’’
Available on Steam, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, 7 Days to Die is an open-world game that mashes up a first-person shooter, survival horror, tower defense, and role-playing game. Set in a brutally unforgiving post-apocalyptic world overrun by the undead, players either work together to build settlements or against each other raiding other player’s bases. All the while, they must contend with the undead hordes. Players will also meet up with Trader NPCs throughout the game world who buy and sell goods and offer quest jobs for rewards.
Overshadowing the announcement of Ninja Theory’s third entry in the Hellblade series earlier this month were reports that the developer was facing possible closure by Microsoft, alongside South of Midnight developer Compulsion Games and Double Fine. Now according to a new story by GamesBeat, another developer under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella is potentially facing closure in Undead Labs, who are currently working on State of Decay 3.
Earlier this month, new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma had announced that Microsoft was in the process of ‘resetting’ Xbox. That resulted in a report by Bloomberg during Summer Game Fest that revealed that multiple developers were negotiating with Microsoft to spin off of Xbox to avoid closing down. Now, according to the GamesBeat report, Undead Labs is now part of that group of developers negotiating to be bought to avoid layoffs.
The article states that Undead Labs could lose 110 jobs if it were shut down, while Compulsion could lose 90 jobs, Ninja Theory could lose 135 jobs, and Double Fine Productions could lose 100 jobs.
Other developers and publishers at Microsoft also reportedly face cuts, including Blizzard, id Software and Bethesda.
Undead Labs was acquired by Microsoft back in 2018, with State of Decay 3 being announced in 2020. News on the development of the game was quiet until 2024, when a new trailer was released. Updates on the game again were hard to come by until last January when then-Xbox Game Studios lead Craig Duncan revealed that development was still very much alive. That was followed up this month with an official announcement that State of Decay 3 would be coming next year to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC via Steam and Microsoft Store.