Thanks to Payday 2-driven stability, Starbreeze pushes ahead on Payday 3

Starbreeze's new acting CEO Tobias Sjören is optimistic about the once-troubled company's future.

Sjören, who stepped into the position after former CEO Mikael Nermark resigned in October, says that the company is well on its way to reclaiming its seat as an industry leader, thanks in no small part to the continued success of its Payday franchise.

"Starbreeze is a much stronger company today than it was one year ago," reads comments from Sjören published alongside Starbreeze's Q4 and FY 2020 results. Starbreeze did still report an overall loss before tax for 2020, but notably a smaller one than it did during its shaky 2019.

For the full year ending December 31, 2020,  Starbreeze reported a loss of SEK 130.5 million ($5.7 million), up from a loss of SEK 452.4 million ($54.3 million) in 2019. Net sales, now supported almost entirely by its Payday series, were reported at SEK 118 million ($14.2 million), down from SEK 280 million ($33.6 million) last year, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization came in at SEK 49.3 million ($5.9 million), up from SEK -116.5 million last year (-$14 million).

Payday was responsible for SEK 111.5 million ($13.4 million) of this year's net sales, and Sjören adds that it's "through the proven strength of the Payday franchise and a highly dedicated development team [that] we now have a stable platform that supports the continued successful development of Payday 3."