Dead by Daylight development studio Behaviour Interactive has purchased Midwinter Entertainment, the studio behind co-op shooter Scavengers, from its former owner, Improbable. The sale has resulted in the cancelation of a planned console release for Scavengers.

For Improbable, the sale marks another step back from its plans to develop video games based on its cloud platform SpatialOS. For Midwinter, it means the closed alpha tests of a console release for Scavengers (which Eurogamer reports were already underway) will end. A small team at Midwinter will continue to maintain the PC version of the game, while the rest of the staff will work on an unannounced new project.

Midwinter was founded in December 2016 by a group of former Halo developers that had left 343 Industries. Scavengers was its first release, a free-to-play shooter where players joined small squads fought for control over shared environments populated by non-player enemies and human competitors. The game never found its audience, and Steam reviews consistently cite a low player count as one of the game's main troubles.

Behaviour CEO Rémi Racine said of the acquisition: "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 will retain the rights to the Scavengers IP as a result of the deal.