As a big fan of Starbreeze Entertainment – the folks behind Payday 2 – I was really bummed to hear they had to let some people go. Apparently, they’re putting all their energy into making Payday 3 the best it can be. Unfortunately, this also means they’ve put a potential new Dungeons & Dragons game on hold, which is a real shame.
The game, internally known as Project Baxter, was being created as a cooperative online experience within the world of Dungeons & Dragons. The plan was for it to be a continually updated live service game, with an expected launch around 2026.
Due to the recent layoffs, Starbreeze has chosen to focus its efforts and funding on the development of Payday 3. The employees previously working on Project Baxter will now be assigned to different projects within the company.
What Will Happen Going Forward?
In a recent blog post, Starbreeze CEO Adolf Kristjansson explained that the company will be concentrating its efforts and resources on enhancing Payday, with the goal of keeping players engaged through a steady stream of new content.
“PAYDAY isn’t just a game-it’s a type of game we invented and are still pioneering. By focusing our team and resources, we can deliver new and exciting heisting experiences more quickly, and also build a strong base for the future growth of the genre,” explained Kristjansson.
It’s important to remember that these job cuts and cancellations happened only about a week after the studio launched a new subscription service for Payday 2 DLC.
Currently, the main challenge for the studio is figuring out how to make Payday 3 perform better than the previous game. It’s important to remember that even though Payday 2, which is 12 years old, still has a loyal group of players, the number of players for Payday 3 is decreasing.
Based on the SteamCharts data shown below, Payday 3 peaked at around 69,000 players, which is significantly lower than Payday 2’s peak of 247,000. Starbreeze Studios anticipates that this strategy will enable them to achieve positive cash flow by 2026.
“We’re really focusing on the things our players enjoy most – and where we excel – being the best at heist games,” Kristjansson explained.
Starbreeze intends to grow the team developing Payday 3 by approximately 50 people, although the current team size isn’t public. At the same time, the company has made the difficult decision to reduce its workforce by 44 employees to decrease operating costs in the future.
Interestingly, the job cuts occurred only a day after Funcom had already let go of some employees, following what they called their “biggest release they’ve had in their 32-year long history of making great games.”
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2025-10-02 21:37