In 2019, Payday 2 publisher Starbreeze Studios was on the brink of going under. The studio was facing a lack of cash on-hand to keep the company running, causing leadership to sell off assets to various companies to help save Starbreeze Studios.
Fast-forward to the present day, and Starbreeze Studios is in a much better place, introducing a brand new studio in the UK while continuing work on Payday 3. In an interview with IGN, Starbreeze CEO Tobias Sjögren spoke about the new UK studio, and shared an update on the upcoming sequel.
“[Payday 3]’s coming along really well. I’m super excited about telling more about it, but we can’t at this point in time,” Sjögren said. “We haven’t released any other information [other] than we are actually releasing it in 2023, but we will and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Sjögren also said Starbreeze is searching for a co-publisher for Payday 3. Developer Overkill Software and Starbreeze haven’t shared much else about the sequel since it was confirmed to be in development in 2021. We know the game will be set in a “living, enormous representation” of New York City according to game director Erik Wonnevi.
The switch to Unreal Engine could be a big one for Payday 3, as Sjögren noted that the developers, “had a very tricky situation in Payday 2 where we have not been able to keep our console versions of Payday 2 up to pair with the PC version. And of course, an engine like Unreal really gives you that opportunity to focus on making the game rather than the technology.”
Starbreeze opens a new UK studio
Meanwhile, Starbreeze’s new studio in the UK will work on projects for two newly-acquired IPs. Along with this, Sjögren said Starbreeze is “definitely looking at” the possibility of purchasing more IPs for the company.
The UK studio will be helmed by Cinder Cone co-founders Tancred Dyke-Wells and Lawrence Bishop. The two previously released a game called Skeleton Crew earlier this year, and have experience working on Firewatch, Nintendo Art Academy, Battalion Wars, and more. Sjögren said the UK made sense for Starbreeze because the company was lacking developers from the region.
“And one of the hubs that we were missing was UK. I felt like there’s a good opportunity to connect more people from the great, really awesome UK development scene to Starbreeze and I think opening an office there will really help out.”
With Payday 3 and other upcoming projects, Starbreeze Studios will continue to focus on live-service platforms for its games. As Sjögren told us, “If we don’t deliver more and new content in a swift basis after the release, we definitely have made a big mistake.”
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
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