It would seem that things are even worse than we could have predicted over at Starbreeze Studios in Sweden.
The company already detailed that poor sales from their latest game have left them in a difficult bind, but things are worse than they appear apparently. The company has admitted that they will be out of liquidity as of January 2019, but they do plan to keep paying employees and working to keep the studio open. An administrator appointed by the court will help the company sort out the legal red tape, and the company will be allowed to forego being forced to fulfill certain debt obligations for the time being.
I hope they do succeed in keeping the doors open too. Since they had a hand in some great games, including Payday: The Heist and Payday 2, which managed to build some decent followings off the back of being excellent action games. The poor launch of Overkill’s The Walking Dead however was doomed from the start due to poor polish and lackluster gameplay.
“The decision is based on a shortage of liquidity and deemed to be a necessary step to give the Company the time needed to negotiate a long-term financial solution and implement changes in the organisation and operations,” Starbreeze said in today’s financial announcement.
This means that the company will need to engage in a lot of cost-cutting to keep the ship afloat. The company will need to take on more debt in the short-term while they try to renegotiate their existing debt obligations, so it will be interesting to see how the publisher deals with these issues.
In addition to the financial struggles and inevitable reshuffling and firing of staff, several members of the Board of Directors have resigned from their positions, opening the path for new leadership to guide the company through these tough times. CEO Bob Andersson will be stepping down from his position for starters. Kristofer Arwin will also be leaving his position.
“In this phase, Starbreeze needs a different kind of leadership and we have therefore decided to ask Mikael Nermark to take on the full responsibility with our full mandate for this new phase,” Starbreeze chairman Michael Hjorth said.
