Over the last year, Starbreeze has been going through some pretty severe financial difficulties, leading to lay-offs, the selling of assets and a return to Payday 2 development. It was announced that Overkill would return to active development on Payday 2 content late last year and now, that strategy is expected to continue throughout 2020. In the meantime, Starbreeze is also looking for a publishing partner to help out with Payday 3. 

Starbreeze this week released its 2019 earnings report, confirming that it spent the majority of 2020 going through an internal shake-up to avoid bankruptcy. As a result, the publisher was unable to release new games last year, causing a £32.2 million loss for the year. However, it is worth noting that the loss is not as big as the one suffered in 2018, so things are trending back in the right direction.

Part of the offset in losses is down to the most recent Payday 2 DLC, which is said to have generated better than expected sales. Starbreeze also says that Payday 2 is now back to its highest concurrent player count in quite some time. With that in mind, Payday 2 will be receiving more updates for PC in 2020, however, the console versions of the game are still being cast aside for the time being in order to save costs.

Starbreeze still isn't in a great position though and is seeking a publishing partner that can “provide financial stability” and marketing resources to help with the launch of Payday 3. Starbreeze hopes to have an agreement to present to investors later this year, with plans to release Payday 3 within the next three years.

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KitGuru Says: Starbreeze is going to be banking on Payday to be a continued success over the next couple of years. Time will tell whether or not that bet will pay off but hopefully the publisher and its studios will be able to get back on their feet soon enough. 

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