Starbreeze Studios

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Starbreeze Studios

logo
legal form Corporation
ISIN SE0005992831
founding 1998
Seat Stockholm , SwedenSwedenSweden 
management Mikael Nermark ( CEO )
Number of employees 93 (2012)
Website www.starbreeze.com

Starbreeze Studios is a game developer based in Uppsala , Sweden . The company develops \ publishes video games for PC and game consoles .

history

Starbreeze Studios was founded in northern Sweden in 1998, merged with O3 Games in 2000 and moved to southern Sweden. The company mainly did commissioned work for game publishers , especially first-person shooters . On February 25, 2011, Mikael Nermark took over the management from Johann Kristiansson. In February 2012, the company released its largest production to date, a shooter for Bullfrog Productions ' dystopian sci-fi series Syndicate, in partnership with Electronic Arts . At this point in time, the company had around 93 employees, but had to lay off around 25 employees after the conclusion of Syndicate . The game proved to be a failure both financially and among critics, with an estimated 150,000 copies sold by June 2012.

Since it was founded in 1998, the company has recorded only losses, and it has also become increasingly difficult for independent developers to obtain large project contracts for so-called AAA titles. Under Nermark, the company therefore began to look for new sales opportunities, among other things with the aim of also publishing smaller productions in the future and establishing its own brands. Unlike the German competitor Crytek , Nermark ruled out a shift to games in the free-to-play area . In April 2012, Starbreeze took over the Swedish development studio Overkill Software, which had a notable success the year before with the co-op shooter Payday: The Heist . In March there was a change of position in the management. Mikael Nermark resigned on March 1, 2013 in favor of his Deputy CEO and previous Overkill Managing Director Bo Andersson Klint and took over his position as responsible for business development.

The sequel Payday 2 was developed in cooperation between Overkill and Starbreeze and came onto the market in 2013. Due to good advance sales figures, the game had already paid for itself before it was actually released. The good sales of Payday 2 , Payday: The Heist and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons contributed to Starbreeze's first sales profit of 104 million Swedish kronor (about 11.65 million euros) for the 2013 financial year after one had made a total of 94 million Swedish kronor (10.5 million euros) loss in the previous 15 years.

On August 13, 2014, Starbreeze and Overkill announced their work on a co-op shooter in the " The Walking Dead " universe. The game, Overkill's The Walking Dead , should play similarly to Payday 2 , but it should be significantly larger. The project is being developed in collaboration with Skybound Entertainment , as publisher, and Robert Kirkman as co-director and co-producer. At E3 2015 there was material for a VR implementation for the first time, but this should become a game in itself. There was also information that the latest production, the " Payday 2 " and Brothers developers, should be aimed primarily at adults and will probably have some disturbing content to offer.

In July 2015, the co-op shooter Payday 2 was released as a "CrimeWave Edition" for Xbox One and PS4 . The new edition offers all the expansions that have appeared to date. The new edition was developed by Starbreeze and Overkill. 505 Games acted as publisher again .

At the beginning of 2016, Starbreeze entered into a partnership with the Korean company SmileGate. As part of the deal, SmileGate is investing approximately $ 40 million in the company. In return, Starbreeze will develop a first person shooter based on SmileGates' game Crossfire and distribute Overkills The Walking Dead and Payday 2 in Asia via SmileGate. In December, Starbreeze also acquired 90.5% of the shares in Indian developer Dhruva Interactive for $ 7 million in cash and $ 1.5 million in shares.

In 2018 Starbreeze had to apply for restructuring funds due to a lack of success, which according to Swedish law can initially avoid bankruptcy. Managing director Bo Andersson Klint gave up his post to his predecessor Mikael Nermark. A few days later the offices of the publisher of the Swedish economy investigators were State Office for Economic crime on suspicion (EBM) on insider trading searched.

Divisions

Publications

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Christian Nutt: The Trouble with Typecasting: Starbreeze, Syndicate, and the Future ( English ) Gamasutra . S. 2. January 20, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  2. ↑ Starbreeze. Retrieved January 1, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Mikael Nermark new CEO of Starbreeze AB - Starbreeze. In: www.starbreeze.com. February 25, 2011, accessed January 1, 2020 (American English).
  4. ↑ Starbreeze lets 25 go after finishing Syndicate ( Memento from January 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Starbreeze "proud" of Syndicate despite poor sales ( Memento from June 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ a b http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/payday-2/news/starbreeze_studios,49280,3033129.html
  7. ↑ Starbreeze hints new project P13 won't be an FPS ( Memento from July 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Starbreeze acquires Payday dev Overkill Software. In: VG247. April 19, 2012, accessed January 1, 2020 .
  9. ↑ http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/STZE.ST/key-developments/article/2647368
  10. ↑ The making of Payday 2: from '1.5' project to heavyweight sequel - part two. In: VG247. December 13, 2013, accessed January 1, 2020 .
  11. ↑ The Walking Dead (Overkill Reveal Trailer). In: www.youtube.com. Accessed January 1, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Overkill's the Walking Dead - Starbreeze. In: www.starbreeze.com. August 13, 2014, accessed January 1, 2020 (American English).
  13. ↑ Overkill's The Walking Dead News - All game news. In: www.gamestar.de. Accessed January 1, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Overkill's Walking Dead VR - Own game, but very similar to Overkill's Walking Dead. In: www.gamestar.de. June 18, 2015, accessed January 1, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Overkill's The Walking Dead - Should be a disturbing adult game. In: www.gamestar.de. June 8, 2015, accessed January 1, 2020 .
  16. ^ Payday 2: Crimewave Edition Review - IGN. In: www.ign.com. July 2, 2015, accessed January 1, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Rachel Weber: Starbreeze receives Smilegate investment. In: gamesindustry.biz. January 22, 2016, accessed January 24, 2016 .
  18. ↑ Dean Takashi: Sweden's Starbreeze buys Indian video game studio Dhruva Interactive. In: VentureBeat. Retrieved December 18, 2016, December 7, 2018 (American English).
  19. ↑ Starbreeze boss resigns - Payday maker escapes bankruptcy. December 4, 2018, accessed December 7, 2018 .
  20. Jump up ↑ Starbreeze raid - The end of Overkill's The Walking Dead? December 6, 2018, accessed December 7, 2018 .