A stable place for Starbreeze to grow from

The conditions are in place for Starbreeze to step up to the next level. We have a proven business model in Games as a Service, and both one of the gaming world’s largest communities and strongest gaming brands. The release of the much-anticipated PAYDAY 3 is a milestone on our roadmap to grow as a game developer and publisher – and to increase the pace at which we deliver strong game experiences.

2023 is the year of PAYDAY 3

It feels great that we will soon be able to reveal the results of our hard work on PAYDAY 3 in recent years, and meet the huge expectations that our community has for the game. With PAYDAY 3, we have created the basis for further developing our business model to include long-term revenue-generating games, and introducing it to a new generation of players on PC and console. The game’s development has gone to plan and together with our co-publishing partner Plaion, we are working intensively towards a successful release of PAYDAY 3 in 2023.

Along with additional activity around the PAYDAY brand, through our partnership with Stockholm Syndrome and the ambition to take PAYDAY to TV or film production, and the upcoming release of the licensed mobile game PAYDAY Crime War, we are taking the first of several steps to cement PAYDAY as one of the strongest game brands in the world, and further develop our IP as a cross-media brand.

We develop Games as a Service

The ultimate proof of the strength of our Games as a Service model is PAYDAY 2’s longevity. Since its inception, our team has delivered 75 different expansions and content packs, DLCs, 13 of which just in the past year. After almost ten years, it is extremely pleasing to see that our community is expanding to include new players, but at the same time we still have people who have been with us from the very beginning.

Our number of unique active users each month (MAU) peaked at just over 800,000 players during the year, demonstrating the high level of engagement that underpins Starbreeze’s sales. PAYDAY 2’s community page on Steam passed 8.6 million members – the highest of any game on the Steam platform.

Overall, net sales for the year were up approximately 2 percent year-on-year and amounted to just under SEK 130 million. Given the strong comparison year in 2021, the underlying sales for the year in US dollars were slightly lower, but were impacted positively by a favorable exchange rate.

Added value through Starbreeze Nebula

Starbreeze has had one of the most engaged communities in the gaming world for a long time. During my years at Starbreeze, I have seen it continue to grow at an impressive rate, and our dedicated player base is one of our greatest assets. A community that constantly contributes to the PAYDAY universe and the actual game development. The Starbreeze Nebula membership platform has and will allow us to create more opportunities to get even closer to our PAYDAY players on PC, console and mobile devices, and will do the same for the games we publish in the future. To create added value for all our customers is the clear purpose in everything we do.

Return as a game publisher

One of the year’s most important strategic decisions for Starbreeze was to resume the role of third-party publisher. Our previous experience as a publisher and our foundation in game development creates a solid basis for good partnerships with other developers, and in recent years we have strengthened and developed both the organization and platform that make us a strong game publisher. The area will be an important aspect of our growth going forward. As a publisher, we will focus on games that complement our current set of customers by offering a strong focus on community, and on playing and shared experiences with other players.

Starbreeze is growing

In 2022, Starbreeze grew from 138 to 165 employees, who together represent a total of 28 nationalities. We recruited employees in the UK during year, and we now have operations in a total of four countries. The skill shortage is a real challenge for the industry as a whole, and consequently, it is a source of pride that we continue to attract committed and talented employees. We have achieved this by establishing Starbreeze as an attractive employer where our employees are given the opportunity to grow, and we have also made several efforts during the year to increase social sustainability at Starbreeze. Not least through leadership training for all employees in order to enhance leadership and cohesion within the company.

We are well equipped to efficiently deliver several in-house developed games over the next five years. The goal is to release games based on either own or licensed IPs. We are currently planning to release larger games in 2025 and 2027, and the expanded IP portfolio will allow the release of more games and promote a diversified revenue stream.

We're taking the next step

Uncertainty in the world around us is increasing, but the games market remains strong, and historically has demonstrated its resilience regardless of economic cycles. We are now looking forward to a year in which we can capitalize fully on the strength of our entire organization, where our future game development projects will be in place and where we can cement the conditions for Starbreeze’s future growth and profitability. A future that is based on delivering engaging game experiences to a continuously growing community, where Games as a Service and long-term revenue-generating games is the engine behind this growth.

First up: PAYDAY 3.

Tobias Sjögren
CEO