Payday 3 brought in $4.4 million for Starbreeze in H1 2024, with company’s net loss widening to $8.9 million

Financial highlights

• According to its interim report, Starbreeze generated SEK 96.8 million ($9.46 million) in revenue from January 1 to June 30, 2024 — up 38.5% compared to the same period last year.
• EBITDA grew 211% year-over-year to SEK 56.5 million ($5.5 million), while net loss increased from SEK 194k ($18.9k) in H1 2023 to SEK 91.7 million ($8.95 million).
• Game sales reached SEK 65.7 million ($6.42 million), down 5.6% compared to the same period last year.
• Revenue from third-party publishing amounted to SEK 26.2 million ($2.54 million). This includes games like Roboquest (“continues to perform strongly,” according to Starbreeze) and The Tribe Must Survive.

Starbreeze’s net revenue and EBITDA (red line)

• “With a solid financial position, strong cash position and strong projects both under development and on the market, we have the best possible conditions to make Starbreeze an even better company in the long term through successful releases,” Starbreeze CEO Mats Juhl noted.

Payday 3 revenue and Project Baxter

• Payday 3 generated SEK 45.3 million ($4.4 million) in the first six months of 2024. Last year, Starbreeze made a total of SEK 477 million ($46.5 million) from the game (it launched in September 2023), including SEK 259.6 million ($25.3 million) in game financing and SEK 217.4 million ($21.2 million) in revenue sharing under an agreement with Plaion.
• Payday 2’s H1 revenue was SEK 20.1 million ($1.96 million), down 71% year-over-year.
• “Starbreeze’s main focus is Payday 3 and continuing to develop and expand the game to grow the player base and increase our sales as a result,” Juhl said, adding that the company expects revenue to increase in Q3 due to the increased frequency of content updates.
• As of June 30, Payday 3 had around 300k monthly active users (MAU).

MAU for Starbreeze’s games (as of June 30, 2024)

• The company is now also working on Project Baxter based on the Dungeon & Dragons IP. Built with Unreal Enginge 5, it is described as a live service game with co-op multiplayer.
• Baxter has now entered full production, with Starbreeze planning to share more details later this year. It is expected to launch in 2026. According to Juhl, Starbreeze will develop and publish the game, but will also seek partners for marketing, physical distribution, and other services.
• The company’s strategy is currently based on three pillars: developing its own franchises, licensing third-party IPs, and creating projects that “enable us to optimize the use of our own resources and benefit from the broad competence we have within the company.”