Canada-based Behaviour Interactive has acquired The Fun Pimp, a US-based PC & Console game developer best known for the title 7 Days to Die, for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is Behaviour’s sixth studio acquisition since May’22 and its first purchase of a scaled, revenue-generating independent studio based outside Canada. The five preceding acquisitions are catalogued later in this feature. The Fun Pimps’ co-founding leadership retains full creative control over 7 Days to Die. Behaviour Interactive will provide additional production capacity, expert support, and back-office resources to accelerate the game’s existing development roadmap.
The acquisition advances Behaviour’s strategy of assembling a horror IP portfolio. CEO of Behaviour Interactive, Rémi Racine, described 7 Days to Die as “an ideal complement to Dead by Daylight, as both games have steadily grown alongside their communities.” Together, Dead by Daylight, Darkest Dungeon, and 7 Days to Die cover three distinct horror subgenres: asymmetric multiplayer, gothic RPG, and open-world survival. Beyond genre fit, the deal carries an operational rationale. The company’s in-house engineering, design, and player support teams, built over a decade of Dead by Daylight DLC releases, can potentially improve the quality of future spin-offs.
- Annual revenue grew from $9m (2014) to a peak of $72m (2023), a ~26% CAGR over the period, driven by Alpha 19, a major new game version, launching in Jun’20 during COVID lockdowns, with Alphas 20 and 21 each generating successive buyer inflows.
- Despite the game’s official Jul’24 release after more than 10 years in Early Access, revenue contracted ~56% from the $72m peak, stepping down to $32m (2025).
- The 2025 marked the introduction of DLC revenue streams alongside the base game, signaling a shift toward layered post-launch monetization ahead of the acquisition.
- Annual active players grew from 4 million (2016) to 15 million in 2024, peaking with the game’s official Jul’24 release, then moderating to 13 million in 2025.
- Steam’s share of new paid unit sales rose to 96% by 2023, as PS4/Xbox One versions stopped receiving updates after 2017, rendering them significantly less competitive than the continuously updated PC version; the Jul’24 Console Edition launch recovered the combined console share to 20% by 2025.
- Despite 13 million active players, new paid unit sales fell to ~1.2 million in 2025; the 3 million sales of the previous year were driven by a pre-launch 76%-off sale ahead of the $44.99 price increase and console players’ mandatory re-purchase of the new-generation edition.
The Fun Pimps was founded in late 2012 in Allen, Texas, by brothers Richard and Joel Huenink and Christian Lang. The studio funded its growth from three founders to a team of 70 entirely through 7 Days to Die revenues, with no institutional financing before this acquisition.
Founded in 1992 in Montreal, Behaviour Interactive is Canada’s one of the largest independent video game studio. Its flagship IP, Dead by Daylight (launched Jun’16), has attracted nearly 70 million players. Behaviour’s capital history includes a strategic minority investment by China-based NetEase Games (NASDAQ: NTES) in 2019, an increase in 2022, and a 2022 equity round in which Haveli Investments joined as a new investor, as we referenced on our website.
The acquisition extends Behaviour’s consolidation cycle, growing the company from 575 to approximately 1,200 employees through six studio purchases since May’22:
- US-based Midwinter Entertainment was added to the portfolio in May’22 and subsequently shut down in Sep’24 following the cancellation of its project.
- UK-based SockMonkey Studios was acquired in Feb’23 and now operates as Behaviour UK – North.
- Netherlands-based Codeglue was acquired in Aug’23 and renamed Behaviour Rotterdam.
- Canada-based Fly Studio joined the group in Mar’24.
- Red Hook Studios, a Canada-based games developer of the Darkest Dungeon game series, was acquired in Oct’24
The acquisition cycle continued despite two workforce reductions in 2024: approximately 45 employees in Jan’24 and a further 95 in Jun’24 (approximately 7% of total headcount), as well as the Sep’24 closure of Midwinter Entertainment. The purchase of The Fun Pimps, an independent studio with a proven long-cycle IP, represents a shift toward acquiring productive, revenue-generating assets rather than developing new IP internally. As stated by CEO Racine, “It is very difficult to create new IP. Our strategy is partnering with existing IPs that we think together we could grow better.”
We will continue to monitor the integration of The Fun Pimps into Behaviour’s horror portfolio and the commercial trajectory of 7 Days to Die under its new ownership.
