Koch Media sign €50 million deal with Starbreeze for Payday 3

Payday franchise developer Starbreeze has signed a co-publishing deal with publisher Koch Media for Payday 3. A release window of 2023 has also been revealed.

The €50 million covers both the development work on the game, as well as the marketing and launch costs. It’s also set to cover at least 18 months of post-launch content. This last aspect shows that Starbreeze clearly has a content plan to keep the game alive for more than a year after it initially launches.

Starbreeze claims that this deal means that Payday 3 is now fully financed. This will bring the game to PC in 2023. While no console version has been confirmed, the developer did bring Payday 2 to consoles, meaning it’s at least a possibility with the next title.

CEO of Starbreeze, Tobias Sjögren, explained that this deal fully funds all development and release work required for Payday 3. It gives the game a strong foundation, allowing the developer to work on the title without the worry surrounding the game’s cost and potential lack of profit after it launches.

Last year, it was questionable whether Starbreeze would be able to release Payday 3 at all. The company had pinned all of its hopes on the title, but with the financial issues it has recently faced, nothing was sure.

Starbreeze came extremely close to insolvency after a series of failed product launches. By that time, the company was almost entirely dependent on income generated by Payday 2, both through full-game sales and DLC pack sales. In 2020, 95 percent of the company’s revenue came from the Payday IP. Considering that development for Payday 2 ended in 2013 and only restarted in 2019, it’s almost shocking to see how it has helped.

This is why Starbreeze is now so focused on Payday 3. This is obviously a popular IP, one with an established fan base that’s eager for more content. As long as this game delivers more of the same, with some possible improvements, it should sell extremely well. Only time will tell how it performs in the market in 2023 though.