The gaming community has never been shy about making its opinions heard, but the latest controversy surrounding Dead by Daylight and popular streamer TheBurntPeanut shows just how much power players now have over a game’s reputation. What started as an unauthorised decision by an employee at Behaviour Interactive to give the streamer access to every DLC in the game quickly turned into a major community backlash with thousands of negative Steam reviews and calls for a boycott alongside plenty of criticism directed towards both the development team and TheBurntPeanut.
The situation has also reignited the debate around review bombing on platforms such as Steam and whether it is an effective way for gamers to hold developers accountable for uninformed and unethical decisions or simply another way of damaging a game’s reputation.
How the Dead by Daylight and TheBurntPeanut Controversy Started
The controversy began on October 30, when Behaviour Interactive gave TheBurntPeanut access to every Dead by Daylight DLC during a livestream. The collection was reportedly worth around £301 and it didn’t take long for players to question why the developer had decided to give the streamer such a substantial amount of content for free. The backlash was largely driven by concerns surrounding TheBurntPeanut’s previous homophobic statements and whether Behaviour should be publicly supporting a creator who had already attracted criticism from parts of the Dead by Daylight community. Things then escalated further when TheBurntPeanut offered to return the DLC or pay for it himself. The official Dead by Daylight account appeared to stand by the decision, responding with “WE CAN TAKE THE HEAT!”, sending the community into an outrage. Eventually, on November 3, Behaviour reversed its decision and confirmed that the gifted content had been removed.
The developer explained that the decision had bypassed its usual internal checks and admitted that it had moved too quickly. By that point, however, the controversy had already become a much bigger issue for the Dead by Daylight community and review bombing on Steam and calls for boycotts were well underway.
TheBurntPeanut Shows Little Sign of Remorse Following the Backlash
Despite the amount of criticism surrounding the situation, TheBurntPeanut doesn’t appear to be particularly bothered by the backlash. His recent streaming activity has continued as normal, with one stream even carrying the title “#1 DBD STREAMER TRIES DEADLOCK FOR FIRST TIME “. The title has certainly stirred the pot among players who are still unhappy with the situation. For those already frustrated with the streamer, it has done little to improve their opinion of him. Whether TheBurntPeanut genuinely sees the situation as something worth addressing or simply wants to move on, it’s clear that not everyone in the Dead by Daylight community is ready to forget about it.
Dead by Daylight Review Bombing Shows the Power of Steam Reviews
One of the biggest consequences of the controversy has been the negative review campaign on Steam. Players unhappy with Behaviour’s decision began leaving thousands of negative reviews for Dead by Daylight, causing the game’s recent review rating to fall from Mostly Positive to Mixed. It’s a pretty clear example of how quickly a game’s reputation can take a hit when a large section of its community decides to make its feelings known. For a live service asymmetric game like Dead by Daylight, maintaining a good relationship with its player base is really important.
The game relies on people continuing to play, buying new chapters and supporting its ongoing development, this is especially relevant as the game is a decade old this year. Seeing its Steam reviews take a hit is hardly ideal for Behaviour, especially when the controversy has little to do with the actual gameplay. Interestingly, the review bombing wasn’t entirely one sided. Some players also left negative reviews in response to Behaviour removing the DLC from TheBurntPeanut, showing that different sides of the community were using the same platform to make opposing points.
Valve eventually stepped in, marking reviews submitted between November 1 and November 6 as off-topic and excluding them from the default review score. Players can still view those reviews, but they no longer have the same impact on the overall rating.
Highguard Is Another Example of How Damaging Review Bombing Can Be
Dead by Daylight certainly isn’t the first game to find itself caught up in a review-bombing campaign. Highguard is another recent example of how quickly negative reception can affect a game’s reputation. Following its turbulent reveal at The Game Awards and its launch in January 2026, the free-to-play shooter attracted a huge amount of attention. It reached almost 100,000 concurrent players at launch, but that initial interest was quickly followed by a wave of negative Steam reviews. The game found itself sitting in Mostly Negative territory, with much of the criticism surrounding its reveal, expectations, game modes and the overall direction of the project. Highguard eventually struggled to maintain its player base, with Wildlight Entertainment announcing that its servers would permanently close on March 12, 2026.
It would be unfair to blame review bombing alone for the game’s downfall, as player retention, competition and the game’s overall reception all played a huge part, however, it does show how difficult things can become when a game develops a negative reputation so early in its life. For a new release, especially one from a smaller studio, a poor Steam rating can make it much harder to convince potential players to give it a chance. One positive outcome of the review bombing campaign against Highguard was that it prompted the introduction of several game mechanics and features that players had been requesting. In response to this widespread feedback, Wildlight Entertainment demonstrated a willingness to listen to its community and implement changes, highlighting how large scale waves of player feedback can, in certain circumstances, lead to positive developments.
Valve’s Decision to Remove the Review Bombing From the Steam Score
Valve’s response has also added another layer to the controversy. Steam’s off topic review system is designed to prevent sudden waves of reviews from unrelated events from unfairly affecting a game’s overall rating. In this case, reviews submitted during the November 1 to November 6 period were excluded from the default score, although they remain visible to users. It’s a decision that makes sense on one hand as Steam reviews are supposed to help people decide whether a game is worth playing. On the other hand, there’s a reasonable argument that review scores should reflect the game itself rather than a controversy involving a streamer. It’s a difficult balance and the Dead by Daylight situation is a good example of why Valve’s review system continues to be debated.
Review Bombing Gives Gamers a Voice, But It Can Also Be Used Negatively
It’s easy to understand why gamers turn to review bombing when they feel developers aren’t listening. Steam reviews give players a public platform to express their frustrations and when enough people get involved it can be difficult for developers to ignore. In the case of Dead by Daylight, the backlash put Behaviour under considerable pressure and ultimately contributed to the company reversing its decision. From that perspective, review bombing can be an effective way for a community to make itself heard. The problem is that it doesn’t always stop there. Review bombing can quickly become less about holding developers accountable and more about punishing a game, sometimes for reasons that have very little to do with its actual quality.
Highguard is a good example of this. It can also happen when players disagree with a developer’s political or creative decisions, even when those decisions have nothing to do with the quality of the game itself. There’s a difference between leaving a negative review because you’ve had a genuinely bad experience and joining a campaign simply because you want to see a game’s rating suffer. Gamers should absolutely have a voice, but review bombing can become a problem when that voice is used to damage a games reputation rather than provide honest feedback.
