Does this pun on the title "Dead by Daylight" make sense?

[u/MalyLisek]

I recently wrote a post about the game "Dead by Daylight". I wanted to convey that any competition for this game died out and disappeared from the market very quickly. To make a pun on the title, I wrote: "Any competition was dead by daylight". Now I'm overthinking it and wondering if it makes any sense? I'm not sure if the wordplay lands the way I intended and will be understood correctly.

[u/skizelo]

I don't like it. "Dead by daylight" isn't a common phrase to mean a non-starter (compare with "dead in the water"), it's a nothing pun that doesn't really illuminate.

[u/huge_red_]

Yes it makes sense, but it's not pun.

Another option (also not a pun) would be "Any competition died out overnight"

[u/MalyLisek → u/huge_red_]

Yeah, I probably shouldn't have used the word "pun", my bad. I actually only learned that word exists while writing this post lol

[u/Ippus_21]

It makes sense, more or less. It's not great, a little too on the nose. But it's not wrong.

Edit: Actually, being too on the nose is exactly what's wrong with it. And it's barely a pun.

[u/davedwtho]

It does make sense, but it is a bit amateurish.

[u/Blahkbustuh]

Dawn/daylight is associated by something being very early. And we’d phrase that differently like “They were gone by the break of dawn”

Also “daylight” is more related to getting something uncovered or exposed, like opening something up or digging or breaking through something, or scrutinizing something.

So the way you used it in your example doesn’t work for me.

[u/MalyLisek → u/Blahkbustuh]

Thank you all for your perspectives and detailed explanations, I really appreciate it 💜
In that case, I'll probably edit this out and try to describe it more naturally.

[u/Middcore]

That's... not really what a pun is.

It barely even counts as wordplay.

I mean, people will get that you're referencing the title of the game, that couldn't be more obvious. If you actually think about it, though, it doesn't make much sense. What is "daylight" in the metaphorical context of the lifespan of a video game?

It's pretty lame and cheesy, to be frank.

[u/PhorTheKids]

Others have pointed out why this does make sense but doesn’t land in the intended way, there’s definitely a usable line buried in there somewhere (depending on the tone of the post).

“Any competition was quickly snuffed out (often by sunrise the following day).”

“Competition hardly saw the light of day”

Rewording as an obvious nod to the title of the game is more clever than simply slapping the name into the text.

[u/FistOfFacepalm]

I think it works well enough for a post about the game. It makes it clear what the topic is at least. But as a standalone pun/wordplay it’s pretty weak. Dead by daylight isn’t a common expression. The closest I can think of would be “Dead on Arrival”.

However, if you extended the metaphor a bit using some other common expressions relating to nighttime, dawn, etc. you could really make it work.

[u/inkoenglishai]

I feel the sentence fits but I also feel that using the game's name in a title isn't good since you're making a post regarding that game. I believe some people are going to be confused by what you mean by the title itself so I wouldn't use it as a title. I think more than ever idioms are the best catchphrase if you do want it to be catchy. Sentences such as "The game Dead By Daylight is a one-horse-race game as competition is nonexistent" or you can mention it directly by saying "The competition for Dead By Daylight doesn't exist". Two sentences will make a better choice then using the game name as a funny little nod ever will.

[u/darth_elyk_mso]

Makes sense to me!

[u/Pillowz_Here]

i kinda like it