In May last year, developer Behaviour Interactive announced that it Midwinter Entertainment – a studio that it had previously acquired – was working on a new PvE co-op shooter spinoff set in the Dead by Daylight universe, before announcing the game as Project T earlier this year and kicking off an insiders playtest program. 

Mere months later, however, the developer has announced that based on the feedback it received from said playtests and “a thorough internal risk assessment from a commercial and product perspective”, it has decided to cancel the project.

“When we conceptualized Project T, we wanted to have players involved in it as early as possible, which led to the creation of the Insiders Program,” the developer wrote in an announcement published on Twitter. “This approach has allowed us to get very early validation on the project’s core design and gameplay, which is something that often comes much further into the production of a game. Following the playtest in July, we ran a thorough internal risk assessment from a product and commercial perspective. While a number of players expressed appreciation for what they played, unfortuantely, the outcome of this deep analysis yielded unsatisfactory overall results.

“It’s with a heavy heart that we announce that Project T has been cancelled. We want to thank you for your support throughout this journey.”

Project T is about the Trespassers, characters who – not unlike the Survivors – have been stolen from their worlds to reside in The Entity’s Realm. Trapped in The Backwater, which is constantly changing, they must work together to escape, battling monsters known as Thrall. Based on the trailer, players can use a truck to get around.

Weapons like revolvers and shotguns are also available with various kinds of Thrall to fight. Further details are yet to be revealed, but insiders can participate in closed playtests and gain exclusive rewards and preview access. Stay tuned for updates in the meantime.

Dead by Daylight fans can also look forward to two new Chapters based on Dungeons and Dragons and Castlevania and The Casting of Frank Stone, a narrative single-player game from Supermassive Games.

The first of these is developed by Supermassive Games, known for Until Dawn, The Quarry, and The Dark Pictures Anthology. The developer will be taking its signature single player narrative-driven horror adventure formula and focusing on a new cast of characters, with the game set outside the Entity’s realm. Supermassive promises an “intense narrative experience filled with powerful life or death choices”, and says it will have more to reveal later this year.

Meanwhile, Midwinter Entertainment – which was acquired by Behaviour Interactive last year – is working on a new Dead by Daylight multiplayer game, though it will seemingly differ from the core title quite a bit. The developer describes it as a PvE multiplayer experience where up to four players will be able to team up to enter the Entity’s realms and fight against enemies together.

Midwinter says the project is currently “in very early stages”, so we’re unlikely to see or hear anything too concrete about it in the near future.

The studio elaborated on the shutdown in a blog post on the official Scavengers website. The studio stated that, considering the decline in player numbers while the game was still in early access, trying to keep it running would prove to be unsustainable.

“We have made the difficult decision to shut the game down on December 16, 2022,” says the blog post. “The last few months have seen a decline in the playerbase, and whilst we explored many options to reinvigorate server population while the game is in early access, it became clear that it was unsustainable to continue development and live service.”

The post goes on to thank players for supporting Scavengers, and inviting players to play the game until its final date to give the game an appropriate send off.

Earlier this year, Improbable had reportedly sold the studio developing Scavengers—Midwinter Entertainment—to Behaviour Interactive, known for developing and publishing Dead by Daylight.

As reported by Eurogamer, Midwinter Entertainment has been sold by parent company Improbable to Behaviour Interactive, the developer and publisher of popular horror multiplayer game Dead by Daylight.

While Scavengers’ PC version is currently being kept operational by a small active team, its PS4 and Xbox One versions have been cancelled. Console versions of the survival title had been in closed alpha for several months.

According to Eurogamer’s report, under Behaviour Interactive, Midwinter Entertainment is now working on a new project. There’s no word yet on what the future holds for Scavengers’ PC early access version in terms of new content or updates.

Midwinter Entertainment’s studio head Mary Olson said: “When we first started talking to Behaviour months ago, the alignment across the teams was striking, and in my experience rare. As we continued to explore, it was clear the opportunity goes beyond similar values and development philosophy. We are thrilled to join and learn from a team with proven success across a broad spectrum of IP, while in turn leveraging the strong foundation, culture, and team we’ve built at Midwinter to expand Behaviour’s portfolio. Plus, Midwinter will be able to leverage 30 years of legacy and join forces with one of North America’s fastest-growing gaming studios.”

Behaviour Interactive boss Rémi Racine said: “Behaviour was not just looking for any studio, but the right studio. Chemistry was essential and our similar values, cultures and our commitment to creating games that push boundaries and defy expectations make Midwinter a perfect fit. This is an important move during a milestone year for Behaviour, which will mark its 30th anniversary in September, and further evidence of the impressive growth that has seen our revenues more than double since 2019 and our team reach nearly 1000 full-time employees.”

Improbable boss and co-founder Herman Narula said: “As part of our announced focus on the metaverse Improbable announced the divestment of its non metaverse focused content teams at the start of the year. We are really excited to have found partners who we believe can provide a fantastic home for the Midwinter team. We are very pleased to see Midwinter go with Behaviour, both for the common ambition they have, and for the cultural fit we have observed all along our discussions. The work done by the Midwinter team over the past three years has been phenomenal and we wish this team all the very best and will be looking forward to seeing their upcoming projects come to life.”

Microsoft will be releasing its next-generation Xbox console Project Scarlett in Holiday 2020 with Halo Infinite being a launch title. With the PS5 also confirmed for release in the same period, the pressure is on to deliver a compelling experience. There have been some concerns over Halo Infinite’s development though, starting with creative director Tom Longo leaving this past August.

It isn’t the strangest thing for team members to depart when a game is finished but more than a year before launch? Microsoft later released a statement to Kotaku, stating, “Roles and responsibilities of various team members regularly evolve to meet the needs of a game, throughout development.” Mary Olson, an executive producer at the time, was announced to be leading Halo Infinite’s campaign team as the lead producer.

However, ResetEra member Modiz pointed out that Olson had recently left 343 Industries. According to Olson’s LinkedIn page, as of October 2019, she now works for Midwinter Entertainment as head of production. This is the same studio where Josh Holmes, former 343 Studio head for Halo 5: Guardians, is working in production and design.

An official statement on Olson’s departure has yet to be made so stay tuned for the same. In Longo’s case, Microsoft did note that, “The overall creative vision and production of the game remains led by Chris Lee, Studio Head of Halo Infinite.” We’ll have to wait and see how development pans out over the coming year.

Midwinter Entertainment is a brand new studio headed by Josh Holmes, whom Halo fans may recognize from his tenure leading the franchise at 343 Industries. It is comprised, apparently, of industry veterans who have worked on some of the biggest games of the last few years, including Battlefield 1, Halo 5, Call of Duty: WW2, and more.

Now, this studio has revealed its first project- a first person shooter named Scavengers, which Midwinter terms as a “co-opetition” game (presumably implying elements of co-op and PvP, both). The game builds upon the Warzone mode in Halo 5, which was widely acclaimed, and will be developed in Unreal Engine 4. The game will also include survival elements.

For now, that is all that is known about the game- but you can check out its announcement teaser for yourself below. There seems to be potential here for a good game- hopefully Midwinter can realize the promise Scavengers presents.