Payday Developer Starbreeze Is Still Losing Money
Starbreeze just reported its second quarter financial results for 2022, and things are actually looking up. The Swedish developer is still losing money, but not as much money as it used to.
Net sales were down roughly 4.7 percent year-over-year, with a net loss valued at 11.2 million Swedish Kroner (about $1 million), but that’s down from 76.4 million Kroner ($7.1 million) at the same time last year.
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As noted by GamesIndustry.biz, sales are still almost entirely driven by the Payday franchise, which represented over 96 percent of the $2.9 million in net sales Starbreeze reported. The studio said that Payday 2 sales are down 25 percent compared to the same time last year and blamed a high number of competing titles from the first half of 2022 for the drop in sales (everyone is playing Elden Ring instead of Payday, apparently).
There was more good news in the most recent report as well. Starbreeze is now working on a new game in an entirely new IP, which is expected to arrive sometime in 2025. No details were revealed, but it’s a good sign for the developer to feel comfortable enough to even begin thinking about a new IP.
Last time Starbreeze branched out from Payday didn’t exactly go well for the studio. Overkill's The Walking Dead was an unmitigated failure both commercially and critically, sending the studio into financial woes that took years to recover from. Restructuring began in 2018 to stop horrendous financial losses, resulting in 25 percent of the studio's workforce being sacked. Both the CEO and CFO left the company, with the CEO resigning in disgrace and the CFO accused of insider trading (although that conviction was overturned on appeal).
Work on Payday 3
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