Payday developer Starbreeze has canceled Project Baxter, its in-development live-service Dungeons & Dragons game, and a number of employees are being laid off across the studio as well.
According to a press release, Project Baxter, which was first announced back in December 2023, has been shut down so that the studio can deploy its resources to "accelerate the growth" of its "flagship Payday franchise".
The cancellation will cost Starbreeze around SEK 255 million (roughly $27.2 million) in "non-cash impairment" form, and it'll also result in the laying off of around 44 employees. Both decisions will, according to Starbreeze, allow the studio to become "cash-flow positive" next year.
It's all part of a corporate refocusing on Starbreeze's part, with the studio looking to leverage its Payday franchise and "the heisting genre" as a whole much more in the future.
According to Starbreeze, the new strategy will revolve around "deepening player engagement, broadening platform reach, and diversifying revenue streams", and it'll include expanding Payday "across platforms and experiences".
As part of this new strategy, Starbreeze says it will create "new games and experiences that broaden the heisting genre" beyond the studio's "core projects". These will include "spin-offs, narrative-driven projects,...
