Swedish game developer and publisher Starbreeze has achieved an important milestone today. As shared by CEO Tobias Sjögren, Starbreeze is finally debt-free after a long reconstruction, following the latest shares issued by the company. The press release notes that the rights were 'oversubscribed', meaning that the demand was higher than the availability of the shares.
Tobias Sjögren said in an official statement:
We are proud and thankful for the strong support from both existing and new shareholders in the oversubscribed rights issue. We can now fully execute on our set growth strategy by accelerating the development of our next internal projects, expanding our third-party publishing, and creating a stronger, more diversified Starbreeze. Our focus remains steadfast – to generate growth and value for our players and our shareholders.
Starbreeze was funded in 1998. Four years later, it merged with OE3 Games and slowly started to become known for games like Enclave, a fantasy third-person action RPG. The global success came later with 2004's acclaimed first-person action stealth game The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. Set as a prequel to the movie Pitch Black, it featured Vin Diesel as the protagonist, though it was the unique gameplay designed around the concept of escaping from the Butcher Bay prison that earned it excellent reviews (it sits at 90 on Metacritic). The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay was remade in 2009 as part of The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, which included a brand new campaign, though this new game didn't get as much praise as the original.
Meanwhile, Starbreeze had released two more solid licensed games: the first-person shooter The Darkness and its sequel. The problems started with Syndicate, a reboot of the real-time tactics series reimagined as a first-person shooter. The game didn't sell well or receive great acclaim; moreover, during its development, several developers left Starbreeze to create MachineGames.
On the other hand, Starbreeze made a solid move by acquiring Overkill Software, which granted them the rights to Payday. The sequel, Payday 2, would become a proverbial golden goose that still brings in a lot of revenue to this day.
However, other initiatives weren't nearly as lucky, such as the failed StarVR headset and the done-and-forgotten co-op shooter Raid: World War II. But Starbreeze's true downfall was the focus on Overkill's The Walking Dead. The Swedish company had put a lot of stock in the project at a time when The Walking Dead IP was very big due to the ongoing TV series, but the game encountered many issues, suffering several delays due to switching engines twice (from Diesel to Valhalla and from Valhalla to Unreal Engine). The final product launched in October 2018 to middling reviews (including our own) and severe underperformance, selling only around 100K units.
Before the end of that year, Starbreeze was forced to file for reconstruction due to a lack of liquidity. Their offices were subsequently raided by the Swedish Economic Crime Authority, and Starbreeze was forced to sell Dhruva Interactive to Rockstar as well as the publishing rights of System Shock 3 back to Otherside Entertainment and those of 10 Crowns back to Mohawk Games.
Starbreeze focused entirely on the Payday franchise, resuming development on Payday 2 in late 2019 and delaying Payday 3 while it searched for a publishing partner. It found one in early 2021 with Koch Media, which agreed to invest over €50 million to fully finance its development, publishing, and post-launch support.
Fans got their first glimpse at Payday 3 during the recent Xbox Game Showcase. The developers also confirmed a September 21 launch date and revealed that the game would be available via Game Pass on day one. After launch, Starbreeze will upgrade the game to Unreal Engine 5.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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