Developer Starbreeze has entered into an agreement to fully acquire the rights to publishing rights to their game, Payday 3. This will see them take this role from Embracer Group-owned publisher Plaion. The developer has stated this move will allow them to “pursue broader strategic opportunities,” amid financial concerns for the game after the title saw a massive decrease in sales from $44.5 million in 2023, down to just $7.7 million in 2024.
Starbreeze has conceded that Payday 3 was underperforming well below expectations within only a few months of release in September of 2023. Earlier this year, the studio had stated that plans to set the game on a better path were underway, projecting some cautious positivity about the future for the co-op heist game.
Following the game’s declining sales, in March 2023, Starbreeze CEO Tobias Sjogren was ousted from the studio, with the goal of appointing a new head who could form a strategy “centered around creating attractive games on our own and licensed IPs.” This vacant position was later filled by Adolf Kristjansson, a veteran of EA, in March of 2025.
It seems the last piece of their strategy to turn the game around has been reached with this deal, a mutual agreement between Starbreeze and Plaion, that will give the developer of the game full freedom in publishing. An investor report read:
This will enable Starbreeze to accelerate content development and pursue broader business opportunities for the Payday franchise as a whole,
While this agreement marks the conclusion of the current publishing arrangement, it also lays the groundwork for a long-term partnership between Starbreeze and Plaion on future Payday franchise projects.
Starbreeze isn’t the only studio reclaiming some independence from the Embracer group or its subsidiaries in recent years. Saber Interactive, as well as Twin Sails, have both broken from the studio to take on independent publishing roles within the industry.
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