The board of directors of Swedish Starbreeze AB issued an announcement last night (12th), announcing that Tobias Sjögren was dismissed from his position as CEO with immediate effect, and that he would temporarily replace him with a member of the board of directors and seek “different leadership candidates”. It was widely speculated by the outside world. This is due to the poor reputation of “Payday 3” after its release.
according toannouncementStarbreeze’s board of directors has appointed board member Juergen Goeldner to temporarily take over as interim CEO of Starbreeze Studios while recruiting new candidates. Goeldner has served as CEO of publisher Focus Home Interactive in the past.
Although Tobias Sjögren did not speak, the announcement stated that he would remain at Starbreeze to assist with the transition, and Juergen Goeldner, who took over his position, stated his gratitude to Tobias for his efforts over the past three years.
Starbreeze Starbreeze Game Company is best known for the “Payday” robbery cooperative shooting series developed by its studio Overkill Software. However, due to many reasons such as investment failure, the company released “OVERKILL Road to the Dead” in 2018. After losing sales, it fell into financial crisis and filed for bankruptcy reorganization in 2019. At that time, the reorganized Starbreeze pinned its hopes on “Payday 3”, and Tobias Sjögren accepted Starbreeze AB studio to be responsible for the development business in 2020.
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However, after “Payday 3” was released in September 2023, it was criticized by fans of the series due to server connection and matching errors, as well as the insufficient playable content and update speed of the game. The number of players continued to decline after several updates. There has been no improvement, and the number of Steam players has only reached a peak of several hundred people. In comparison, the previous game “Payday 2” still has a peak of 30,000 people online.
In fact, apart from initial connection and bug issues, “Payday 3” still maintains its style and a certain degree of playability in the heist cooperation content. However, the game’s sales strategy is disappointing in terms of base pricing and paid DLC content. Very satisfied, and the biggest competitor is the previous game “Payday 2”. Comparing the two highlights the shortcomings of “Payday 3” in all aspects, resulting in the fact that it does not meet players’ expectations.
As for how long it will take for “Payday 3” to improve its content, or whether Starbreeze has a new operational direction, Juergen, the new president who took over, only revealed that he will continue to develop the company’s IP market.
“Starbreeze has a long history of developing and publishing games globally.” Juergen Goeldner said in the announcement: “With the launch of Payday 3, the company is fully prepared to leverage the strengths of the organization to monetize and develop its IP portfolio. I I hope that by assuming the operational role, I can work with the management to ensure the smooth execution of this strategy.”
