Red Hook Studios, the Vancouver-based indie game development studio that has created the hit Darkest Dungeon games, has been acquired by Behaviour Interactive, best known for its Dead by Daylight horror game franchise.
The news was first released on GameIndustry.biz, which stated that the 29 team members of Red Hook Studios will now be an independent studio but under the Behaviour Interactive umbrella, The announcement did not disclose the financial details of this acquisition.
“The way is lit. The path is clear.”
— Behaviour Interactive (@Behaviour) September 24, 2024
Today, we’re ecstatic to announce our acquisition of Red Hook Studios. Darkest Dungeon has long been a series we’ve admired, enjoyed (and maybe even lost a little sleep over) as fans, and the opportunity to welcome Red Hook as a fully… pic.twitter.com/3SeO6kEZWs
Behavior Interactive also revealed the deal on its X account, adding:
We look forward to supporting Red Hook as they continue to do what they do best: put your sanity to the test.
Red Hook Studios first launched in 2013 with two team members, director Chris Bourassa and lead designer Tyler Sigman. The team then expanded and officially launched the first Darkest Dungeon game in 2016 after a year of Early Access. The team released Darkest Dungeon II in early access in 2021, followed by its full release in 2023. Together, the two games have sold over seven million copies. There"s no word yet on what the next game from Red Hook Studios will be like.
This new acquisition by Behaviour Interactive comes after a rough 2024 so far for the company. It announced mass layoffs in June. Earlier this month, it announced it had canceled the development of a Dead by Daylight spin-off game, code named Project T, and also decided to close the developer behind that project, Seattle-based Midwinter Entertainment.