Starbreeze studios makes a lot of stuff. They’re currently the main driving force behind thePayday franchise, for instance. But most profitably, they’ve been working with Krafton on a Payday /PlayerUnknown’s Battlegroundscollaboration. It’s not out yet, and right now it’s making more money for them than anything else.
In a recently-releasedinvestor report, Starbreeze offered a quick breakdown of their financials for the past while. And in no uncertain terms, they know where the money is.
“Our PUBG project continues to perform ahead of expectations and stands as a testament to the strength of our internal development capabilities,” said Starbreeze’s CEO, Adolf Kristjansson. “During the quarter, it was our single largest revenue contributor, demonstrating both commercial viability and production excellence.”
They describe the collaboration as a ‘work-for-hire’ partnership - while Starbreeze retains the IP rights to payday, Krafton was given the rights to make Payday content for PUBG - and they’re paying Starbreeze devs to make it with them.
Starbreeze/Krafton Partnership Brings Money, But Not Much Hype
When news of the collaboration first broke, Payday fansweren’t too happy. Chief among the concerns is the absolute state of Payday 3 - a game that’s never been able to hold a Steam review score above ‘mixed’. As it stands, positive reviews are sub-50%.
Several of those reviews seepotential hope for the gamewith (substantial) updates and patches, and seeing Starbreeze divert resources like this touched on a sore spot.
In exchange for those sour feelings, Starbreeze has taken home almost $2 million of Krafton’s money (thanks,GameDeveloper). That’s not out-earning Payday 2 and 3 combined in the same fiscal quarter, but it’s certainly more than either one by itself. Money talks - and Krafton is loud.
“Our strategic focus on the Payday franchise,” the CEO’s statement continues, “proactive organizational changes, and emphasis on sustainable growth have started bearing fruit, guiding us on our path towards becoming an agile, profitable, and a proven leader in building and sustaining world-class IP.”
For those who fell asleep reading that above corpo-speak, note the inclusion of “on our path towards becoming,” among other things, “profitable”. Starbreeze is not profitable right now, though they hope to change that. It’s good that they have a plan at least, though it may not be the plan that Payday fans were hoping for.
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