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Positive Turn for PAYDAY 3 Sentiment and strong PAYDAY® franchise momentum

Second quarter 2026

  • Net sales amounted to SEK 25.6 million (53.8).
    • PAYDAY 2 accounted for SEK 13.7 million (8.0).
    • PAYDAY 3 accounted for SEK 11.0 million (17.7).
    • Third-party publishing accounted for SEK 0.0 million (6.7).
    • Work-for-hire accounted for SEK 0.0 million (19.6)
  • EBITDA* amounted to SEK 3.4 million (5.9).
  • Cash flow from operating activities amounted to SEK 6.6 million (39.2).
  • Depreciation, amortization and impairment amounted to SEK 39.8 million (30.8).
  • Profit/loss before taxes amounted to SEK -36.8 million (-25.4).
  • Basic and diluted earnings per share amounted to SEK -0.02 (-0.02).


The period January-June 2026

  • Net sales amounted to SEK 52.1 million (121.5).
    • PAYDAY 2 accounted for SEK 25.1 million (20.4).
    • PAYDAY 3 accounted for SEK 20.9 million (50.8).
    • Third-party publishing accounted for SEK -1.1 million (10.1).
    • Work-for-hire accounted for SEK 6.1 million (37.2)
  • EBITDA* amounted to SEK -0.2 million (21.6).
  • Cash flow from operating activities amounted to SEK 8.6 million (27.4).
  • Depreciation, amortization and impairment amounted to SEK 92.0 million (75.3).
  • Profit/loss before taxes amounted to SEK -93.0 million (-54.9).
  • Basic and diluted earnings per share amounted to SEK -0.06 (-0.03).
  • Cash and cash equivalent amounted to SEK 52.1 million (156.4).

Significant events during and after the quarter

  • On April 29, Starbreeze announced its partnership with Gamefam to expand the PAYDAY® Franchise with the second game on Roblox. Read more here.
  • On May 12, the Starbreeze Annual General Meeting 2026 was held.
    Read more here.
  • On August 10, Starbreeze announced a new Fortnite (UEFN) Game: Heist Escape Roguelike: Payday Experience. Read more here.
  • On August 10, it was announced that Starbreeze Entertainment & VICE Studios Partners with Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and G-Unit Film & Television for PAYDAY. Read more here.

The second quarter of 2026 was a quarter where the work we have put into PAYDAY started to pay off. Across both PAYDAY 2 and PAYDAY 3, we kept up a disciplined, monthly release cadence, and in PAYDAY 3 specifically we recently reached a milestone we have worked hard and long for: player sentiment on Steam turned Mostly Positive for recent reviews. This is proof that our continued investment in the game and the franchise is working, and it lays a strong foundation for further growth in players, revenue and franchise momentum.

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
Net sales for the second quarter amounted to 25.6M SEK, compared to 53.8M SEK the same period last year. The decline is largely explained by the continued wind-down of third-party publishing and work-for-hire, which contributed no revenue in the quarter compared to 26.3M SEK a year ago, as we keep sharpening our focus on the PAYDAY franchise. PAYDAY 2 continued to grow, contributing 13.7M SEK (8.0), while PAYDAY 3 contributed 11M SEK (17.7) in a quarter with a slightly lighter content slate than the exceptionally strong comparison period.

Despite lower revenue, EBITDA remained positive at 3.4M SEK (5.9), and operating cash flow amounted to 6.6M SEK (39.2), reflecting continued cost discipline. For the first half of the year, net sales amounted to 52.1M SEK (121.5) and EBITDA to -0.2M SEK (21.6). Liquid funds at the end of the period amounted to 52.1M SEK (156.4). We will continue to manage our cost base closely to protect margins and cash generation. Growing incremental revenue across the PAYDAY franchise remains management's key strategic lever for returning to sustained profitability.

THE PAYDAY FRANCHISE
On PAYDAY 3, we continued to deliver on our monthly update cadence. The First Responder Tailor Pack was released free of charge in April, followed by the Swedish Weapon Pack, a new paid DLC, in May. In June, we launched Update 3.6, one of the largest updates to the game to date. In a continued effort to drive new players into the game we introduced a completely new onboarding experience, reworked heists with new game play, design and objectives, an updated UI, introduction of new mechanics such as the Heat meter, and Crimebonds, an innovative way for players to unlock the content as they progress in the game. In July, we continued in the same spirit, releasing reworked content with improved objectives, lighting, and a range of quality-of-life improvements.

This steady, monthly rhythm is starting to show in how players feel and express themselves about PD3 and the PAYDAY franchise. We are seeing this in growing MAU player count across both games, 174 000 for PAYDAY 2 and 158 000 for PAYDAY 3 respectively. In July, PAYDAY 3 reached a significant milestone: recent reviews on Steam turned Mostly Positive, with more than 72 percent of recent reviews being positive. This demonstrates that the hard work and effort that our teams have put into rebuilding player trust and the gaming experience in PAYDAY 3 is paying off, and it lays the foundation for continued growth of the game, the franchise, and by extension our revenue going forward. We are now focused on releasing the next wave of significant system and game improvements, including a game engine upgrade where we upgraded the game to Unreal 5.6, along with additional system upgrades, and content for both new and veteran players, as we see accelerated momentum for the game. 

PAYDAY 2 continues to perform very well. Through our partnership with Sidetrack Games, the game continues to be updated on a bi-monthly cadence. In April, we launched the Espionage Weapon Pack, the first paid content update for over three years which not only performed well, but was praised and beloved by our community. In June we invited our players to an open beta of our next major update for the game, Diesel 3.0 upgrade, a major milestone which entails a significant technical overhaul for the game that reduces the install size by over 60%, improves performance, offers unprecedented fluidity and framerate. This will allow us to roll this out on other platforms, and potentially bring existing PC content to other platforms. Combined with a strong summer sale, player activity in PAYDAY 2 in July, grew to the highest level in over two years.

STRATEGY & PLATFORM EXPANSION
As previewed in our last report, PAYDAY was successfully launched inside PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS in May, as a limited-time co-op heist mode created in collaboration with Krafton. The mode was very well received by PUBG players and its developer Krafton. Bringing PAYDAY into one of the world's largest games exposed our franchise to a massive new audience and is a key pillar of our strategy to expand the IP beyond its traditional borders.
On top of that, we are accelerating our presence on the Roblox platform through our partnership with Gamefam, with a second game set to launch later this year. We are also excited to announce the launch of a new UEFN (Unreal Editor for Fortnite) experience further diversifying the ways players can engage with the PAYDAY platform. Our transmedia approach is also gaining significant momentum; we recently signed G-Unit in partnership with VICE to expand the production of our upcoming TV and Film projects. These initiatives are designed to extend PAYDAY's reach to diverse new demographics while staying true to the franchise's distinct identity.

CLOSING REMARKS
The second quarter of 2026 showed that our PAYDAY franchise strategy is working. PAYDAY 2 keeps growing, PAYDAY 3 is turning a corner in the eyes of its players, and we continue to expand the franchise through partnerships that bring PAYDAY to new audiences. There is still plenty of work ahead of us, but the direction is clear and the momentum is real. We have a lot of things to look forward to in the second half of the year - experiences that will surprise, delight, and engage our players across our PAYDAY universe. And we are just getting started.

I want to thank our Starbreeze team for an Herculean effort over the last year, our Players for their passion and belief, and our shareholders for their continued trust in our journey. It is through your combined support that we are able to continue our journey to develop and expand this legendary franchise into the entertainment platform it deserves to be.
ADOLF KRISTJANSSON, CEO

Bifogade filer

Starbreeze Interim Report Q2 2026
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