Payday 2 sales pull Starbreeze out of 15-year loss in six months

Since it was founded in 1998, Starbreeze has developed several well-known, critically acclaimed games including The Chronicles of Riddick Escape From Butcher Bay, The Darkness, and Syndicate. But a recent press release from the Swedish developer revealed that it only recently turned a profit, thanks mostly to Payday 2.

For example, Starbreeze reported that it made $6.1 million in the last fiscal quarter, with $5.3 million in Payday 2 sales alone.

“To put the past six months in perspective, I would like to highlight that Starbreeze historically, from 1998 to June 2013, accumulated a total loss of SEK 94 million ($14.4 million),” CEO Bo Andersson Klint said. “Thanks to our new business model, reorganization and a focus on our own brands, we have—in only two quarters—generated a profit before tax of SEK 104 million ($16 million).”

Payday 2 was created by Overkill, another Swedish developer that Starbreeze acquired in 2012, and is published by 505 Games. The press release revealed that Starbreeze signed an “improved” contract with 505 Games to continue developing and refining Payday 2 for the next 20 months.

Klint said that Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons also “finally” started generating royalty income for Starbreeze, bringing in around $250,000 in the last quarter.