It appears that Starbreeze, the developer of Payday 3, has recently had layoffs. Although the studio hasn’t officially confirmed this, several former employees have announced on LinkedIn that they’ve been let go. Confirmation came from Alexander Pereswetoff-Morath, who used to work in quality assurance, and Sabina af Jochnick, a former senior tech producer.
Since Starbreeze hasn’t made an official statement, the exact number of employees laid off is unclear. However, one source described the cuts as affecting “many” people.
Pereswetoff-Morath announced on LinkedIn that they received news of a layoff at Starbreeze in Stockholm and are now looking for a new job. They’re asking for support from their network and welcome any leads or just a chance to reconnect. After more than seven years with the company – the longest they’ve ever worked anywhere – it seems their time there has come to an end.
Jochnick pointed out that the recent layoffs have impacted her directly, as her position is now potentially at risk of being eliminated.
She recently shared that her job at Starbreeze is potentially affected by layoffs, so she’s starting to explore new opportunities.
The team behind Payday 3 has faced challenges since the game launched and received negative feedback. In May 2025, they officially took over publishing rights from Plaion. Starbreeze board member Thomas Lindgren explained that this change would allow them to speed up their plans for new content.
According to Lindgren, this deal allows Starbreeze to take complete control of publishing Payday 3, speed up the development of new content, and explore more possibilities for the Payday series. They thank Plaion for their support, which shows confidence in Starbreeze and helps build strong relationships with key players in the gaming industry.
However, in October, Payday 3’s general manager Jonas Skantz and community manager Elisabeth Elvestad announced they were no longer developing an offline mode. They explained that, given the team’s size and current focus on more critical game improvements, creating an offline mode wasn’t possible at this time.
Last October, Starbreeze transferred development of Payday 2 to Sidetrack Games, who will continue to maintain and update the PC version. Sidetrack Games originally started as a modding group for Payday games, and its team members have experience working on titles like RAID: World War 2. Since taking over, their primary goal has been to improve the stability and overall quality of Payday 2.
Now that Starbreeze is fully focused on Payday 3, they’ve also committed to continuing support for Payday 2, ensuring its players still receive the dedicated help and updates they expect.
You can play Payday 3 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. For a deeper look at the game, read our review about its recent issues.
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2026-01-22 18:43