Following a “strategic review,” the company made the “difficult but necessary decision” to focus on the Payday franchise’s growth.
Starbreeze has announced that Project Baxter, its co-op Dungeons and Dragons title set to launch in 2026, has been cancelled. After a “strategic review,” the company’s Board of Directors felt that resources were “best deployed to accelerate the growth” of the Payday franchise.
In a press release, CEO Adolf Kristjansson said, “This was a difficult but necessary decision. Our strategy is clear: Payday is one of the most iconic IPs in gaming, with unmatched reach and potential. By focusing our investment and talent here, we can accelerate delivery, engage players with more content, and reinforce Starbreeze’s position as the clear leader in the heisting genre. This is about sharpening our focus to create the strongest long-term value for our players, our people, and our shareholders.”
Alongside a non-cash impairment of SEK 255 million (roughly $27.2 million), Starbreeze is redeploying Project Baxter team members to other projects, “most prominently within Payday.” However, it also confirmed layoffs for about 44 contractors and employees to GameDeveloper, though since the following weeks will see union negotiations, the “exact number” couldn’t be specified.
In development on Unreal Engine 5, Project Baxter hadn’t received a gameplay reveal or official title. It would have been another games-as-a-service title, and then-CEO Tobias Sjogren said it was “hard to imagine a better pairing than Dungeons and Dragons and Starbreeze.”
As for what this means for Payday 3, which has floundered since its launch in September 2023, despite multiple updates and improvements. Starbreeze also faced fresh controversy with its new DLC subscription model and price hike on the Infamous Collection for Payday 2. Stay tuned for updates, as always.
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