Dead by Daylight devs speak out against transphobic harassment following latest chapter release
The latest chapter of Dead by Daylight, All Things Wicked, was released last week. What followed the chapter should have been excitement and fervor; however, a vocal minority has used the chapter to spread transphobic harassment to other Dead by Daylight players.
Be warned, the content of this editorial does contain transphobia.
The harrassment comes due to the release of the new killer, a creature known as The Unknown. The Unknown is an inhuman entity, that takes the shape of whatever it needs in order to feed and kill. It can change its form and voice, and like most of the newer Killers added to Dead by Daylight’s roster, has various voicelines that indicate it can change at will to get what it wants.
The Unknown, alongside its Survivor counterpart Sable Ward, released with several cosmetics. It’s main cosmetic is an elongated figure with a long neck, a twisted face and is, for the most part, masculine in nature. A variant of cosmetics, however, has the same shape but has The Unknown wearing a cheerleader outfit with long hair. The variant is meant to represent a victim of The Unknown’s, but unfortunately it has been used to incite transphobic hatred towards Dead by Daylight players and streamers.
As shared by PinkNews, this hatred also led to targeting The Unknown’s voice actor, who is a trans woman. The actor, which we will not name to protect her identity, shared in a now-deleted thread on social media platform Twitter/X that they felt they were owed “reparations” from the team, after feeling tricked by the inclusion of these skins.
Since then, the actor has clarified their initial statement. “I wasn’t kept in the loop with what the character’s final look would be, I was given an ambiguous description for the part, and even though I tried my best to find out, continually asking for more info, that wasn’t possible. This is why I was upset. The skins themselves were never the issue, lack of communication was.”
In a statement shared to PinkNews, a spokesperson for Behaviour Interactive said the following:
“Since our latest Chapter release, folks have taken it upon themselves to divert our work from its original purpose and use our newest Killer to target and harass players.
“We want to say loudly and unequivocally that this malicious content and attitude is unacceptable and has no place in Dead by Daylight. This community should be a safe place where EVERYONE can find a true sense of belonging.
“These people have also directly targeted the voice artist behind The Unknown, resulting in her being at the centre of hideous attacks. She is highly talented, and we were privileged to collaborate with her. Her voice acting experience is perfect for the character we were designing, which needed a wide range of voice tone and expert-level technique. The reception for The Unknown has been phenomenally positive and this is in big part thanks to her dedication and amazing work.
“We will continue to express support to our voice actress, to all of our community members as well as standing actively against hate in our game.”
Despite Behaviour Interactive’s statement, some argue that it doesn’t actually address that the nature of the harrassment was transphobic.
“What a pathetic response by a company as huge as Behaviour Interactive.” User Steve8K shared via Twitter/X. “Massive L. If this Behaviour isn’t acceptable – ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. All talk no action, unless…”
Others felt that the situation presented a great opportunity to add more representation to their cast in Dead by Daylight. “Hopefully this is a wake up call for BHVR to actually give us representation this year.”
Dead by Daylight highlighted survivor David King as gay in his story tome back in 2022 and, more recently, they revealed that Susie, a character that helps make up the Killer squad known as The Legion, is a lesbian and in love with her toxic best friend Julie in the Dead by Daylight comics by Nadia Shammas.
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