Starbreeze
Stockholm-based video game studio and publisher Starbreeze Studios AB is Swedish. The studio's major output includes the video games Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Payday 2, and The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. In 2002, Starbreeze, which had been founded by ex-members of the demogroup Triton, merged with O3 Games while keeping the Starbreeze brand. Games like Knights of the Temple: Infernal Crusade and Enclave came from the studio.
During the production of their fourth game, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, Starbreeze experienced a significant financial crisis as a result of the termination of their projects due to issues with publishers and a failed purchase. The success of Starbreeze can in part be attributed to the positive reception this game garnered from critics. The business assisted on The Darkness, which has done well in sales.
Many of Starbreeze's employees left for MachineGames, a competitor founded by Starbreeze's founders, after the studio's collaboration with Electronic Arts on a Syndicate reboot was a commercial failure. So they shifted some resources to making more intimate games like Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. In 2012, Starbreeze took the first step toward growth by purchasing Overkill Software. After losing a total of $14.4 million since its founding, Starbreeze turned a record profit thanks to Overkill's first product after the acquisition, Payday 2. In 2015, the business stated that it had begun developing a virtual reality device called Project Star VR and will begin releasing video games from independent developers.
Skybound Entertainment granted Starbreeze a license to produce Overkill's The Walking Dead, however the project stalled during production and received negative critical reception and disappointing sales when it was finally published in 2018. Starbreeze spent the year from December 2018 to December 2019 reorganizing in the hopes of regaining financial stability thanks to the success of this game, but instead had to sell off many of its publishing relationships and take other drastic measures.
Founded: 1998
Headquarters: Stockholm, Sweden
Website: https://corporate.starbreeze.com/
