The FNAF Chapter Catapults Dead by Daylight to its Highest Player Count Ever in 9 Years

Who could’ve predicted that a Five Nights at Freddy’s chapter would be a huge success in Dead by Daylight? That’s sarcasm by the way.

The FNAF chapter has been an overwhelming success for Dead by Daylight, helping the game break its concurrent player count record (i.e. the number of people playing the game at the exact same time) on Steam on the first day of the chapter’s release. 

According to Steam Charts, Dead by Daylight hit 106,029 players on Steam at 7 pm BST yesterday. The game is also currently sitting at number 2 on the Steam top-sellers list. 

To put this into context, the game is celebrating its 9th anniversary this year, so hitting new player count peaks so long after release is applause-worthy. What’s also impressive is that all of its competitors in the asymmetrical multiplayer horror space have only lasted a few years at most, with the genre’s most recent victim being the Texas Chain Saw Massacre game, which received its final update last month. 

Video game chapters appear to be a recipe for success for Dead by Daylight. The previous record was achieved at the launch of the Resident Evil chapter back in 2021. This chapter featured fan favourites from the best-selling horror game franchise of all time, Leon Kennedy and Jill Valentine, alongside antagonist Nemesis and an iconic recreation of the Raccoon City Police Department. 

Five Nights at Freddy’s has been one of the most anticipated licenses for Dead by Daylight players, alongside Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th and Pennywise from IT. The new chapter features Springtrap as a killer and the Freddy Fazbear Pizza as a map. Springtrap also comes with two legendary skins that transform him into Glitchtrap and the Yellow Rabbit from the movie. And yes, this skin does include voice lines from the one and only Matthew Lillard himself.