Dead by Daylight, a cat-and-mouse game involving multiple Survivors and a Killer by Behaviour Interactive, is reportedly coming to Google Stadia in September 2020. But more than just another port to a different platform, the game will feature exclusive functionality never seen in the game before—Crowd Choice and Crowd Play.
Dead by Daylight on Google Stadia is still the exact same game. Featuring a Killer whose goal is to prevent Survivors from escaping the trials. But with exclusive features, the game appears to be being targeted towards specific audiences—streamers and their respective viewers.
Influence via Poll Result
True to its label, the Crowd Choice is about giving voice to audiences through the power of majority votes. In Dead by Daylight, this could involve choices whether the streamer has to choose between a Killer or a Survivor. The idea partly is to engage viewers towards a particular direction of every stream.
Engagement Through Active Play
Giving power to the audience’s opinion is indeed a powerful drive towards engagement. However, that is not the only way to add to the hype. Crowd Play, which is essentially the streamer giving the audience a chance to play the game, is also it. In-game, this feature lets both the streamer and one or a few viewers participate in a trial.
From the get-go, it is quite clear that Google Stadia’s primary market for the feature are popular gaming YouTubers. Individuals who would reap the benefit of boosted engagement from the audiences, particularly in the gaming space.
As of right now, there are already dozens of individuals who are capitalizing on the game’s popularity through streams. It does make sense if whether these individuals would be the first ones to adopt the game upon release to a new platform.
A Platform for All Gamers
Although seemingly small, the idea is not only limited to the niched market. Anyone can literally join in the fun, too—for nothing more than sheer entertainment, if not yet getting a large following.
The Google Stadia platform has promised a lot of features that integrate with its sibling, YouTube. While a lot of it has yet to materialize, the added features with Dead by Daylight makes for a good step towards those.
For a platform that appears to capitalize in the social aspect of gaming, Google seems to make the right decision of inviting the game over.
Image used courtesy of GameSpot/YouTube Screenshot