2020 may have been a troubling year for many, but for Swedish developer Starbreeze Studios it seems to have proven a breath of fresh air. After a difficult couple of years, the studio behindPayday 2claims to have put the worst of it behind it, and may even be looking to announce a long-awaited sequel soon.
For a time, Starbreeze appeared to be in the midst of a riches-to-rags tragedy of sorts. After the successful release ofPayday 2all the way back in 2013, things seemed rosy for the company, but a badly-receivedWalking Deadtitle andallegations of insider trading in 2018soon led to cost-cutting, layoffs and eventually filing for reconstruction to avoid bankruptcy.
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By 2019 it looked like Starbreeze was due to close any minute as they continued shedding assets to keep themselves afloat, includingselling an entire production company to Rockstar. In 2020, however, things started to look up, as the team returned to active development onPayday 2, rewarding their loyal fanbase with new content and starting to look for a new publisher for the sequel. In their end-of-year financial report, acting CEO Tobias Sjögren noted that their new business model had “really showed their muscles,” allowing them to successfully raise capital and pay off a significant portion of their debts.
Due to their renewed financial position, Sjögren also mentioned that they would be able tocontinue development onPayday 3alongside putting out new content forPayday 2- in his words, “all key steps in putting Starbreeze back on the map as an industry leader.” The search for a publisher forPayday 3is ongoing, but Sjögren maintained that the company was “standing strong and confident in our efforts to close a publishing agreement with a partner that is as passionate about games as a service as Starbreeze is.”
All in all, Starbreeze seems to have successfully picked itself up and dusted itself off, and is ready to rejoin the fray of the games industry. WithPayday 2still drawing players into its enormous online communityeven 8 years after its release, and the newly invigorated company determined to keep providing content and support for it, 2021 could well see Starbreeze continue to go from strength to strength.
Payday 2is available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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