Pinhead / The Cenobite
Hey there,
I started playing Dead by Daylight on June 30th this year and I've really been enjoying it. I mainly play Killer, and after watching a lot of DbD content, I quickly noticed that two Killers are missing: Michael Myers (The Shape) and Pinhead (The Cenobite).
I looked into how they work and why they are no longer available. From what I found, both left due to licensing issues. The same thing happened to Demogorgon some time ago, but he eventually returned to Dead by Daylight.
I know Pinhead only left relatively recently (April 2025), but I'd still really like to play him. From what I understand, the Hellraiser rights have since reverted to Clive Barker. Is there any particular reason why Behaviour hasn't publicly commented on whether they've been in contact with him or the current rights holder about bringing Pinhead back?
I'd love to hear if there's any public information on this.
Comments
Probably because its best if they only reveal something when they are positive they got a good grip on a license. It would be extremely disappointing if they made an announcement of the characters return, only for them to double down due to something out of their control.
Funnily enough I think Terrifier is sort of in a similar situation but idk the full extent of that ordeal
From my understanding the Pinhead license has always been "Messy" I could be wrong but that's just what I have been told.
The same reason as to whats happening with Terrifier right now. They announced Terrifier for the november chapter, but right around the same time a lawsuit happened thats still going on and if certain things happen, then terrifier might be canceled. (Because the one that made the deal with bhvr might have done so illegally) atleast just stuff that ive heard from other posts talking about it.
They don't want to burn bridges or get peoples hopes up by saying "we got _____!" To hype people up and then something happens and they have to cancel. Nor do they want to announce that they have drama with certain license holders to make themselves or the license holder look bad. So they only tell people about a license when they are absolutely sure its happening.
Just in terrifiers case it was the person making the deal was quite eager to get him in the game so that seemed like a guarantee but then the suprise lawsuit.
For all we know things could have gone badly with Clive Barker as he would've probably been contacted to renew the license in dbd, and said no which lead to him being removed.
Id also love to know bhvrs status with Castlevania / Saw / Resident evil as the content for them is very slow to a point where i wonder just how good of a relationship they have.
The others already said it all, but one thing to add:
Do not - DO NOT - buy keys for Myers or Pinhead for absolutely ridiculous prices on the internet at this point. It is not worth it, even if they never come back (which I somewhat doubt - I think there is a high chance, they will be back someday).
Yea im not gonna spend like 900€ for a Character thats probably either a scam or they're gonna come back sometime
You should NOT buy any DLC to this game from any site that is not an authorized seller of the game itself. I think they just before the anniversary removed quite many accounts access to some DLC's because those people bought the keys from non-authorized seller sites. When in those sites the keys are usually got shady or even illegal means.
right now Saber Interactive has exclusive rights to Hellraiser we are just gonna have to wait a couple years I think.
I am hoping once it's been out for 2-3 years and they move on to KOTOR the doors will open up again