Starbreeze Studios Layoffs Continue

Drama

22 January 2026 07:13

Starbreeze Studios is dealing with fresh layoffs, adding more pain to a developer already battered by the rocky road of Payday 3. Employees started sharing the tough news on LinkedIn this week, though the company in Stockholm hasn't put out any official word yet.

The posts from staff paint a pretty grim picture. QA tester Alexander Pereswetoff-Morath wrote, “Today, many of us at Starbreeze, Stockholm, got sad news and I’m now seeking a new role and would appreciate your support.” He went on to note his long tenure, saying, “After over 7 years, the longest I’ve ever been at any company in any industry, my time has (more than likely) come.”Senior Tech Producer Sabina af Jochnick echoed the sentiment, posting, “Due to the recent layoffs at Starbreeze, my role has been identified as at risk of redundancy, so I’m beginning to look at what’s next.”

Payday 3's Rough History Fuels the Trouble

Ever since Payday 3 dropped in 2023, things have been rough. The launch hit players with massive frustrations, server issues, and gameplay gripes that sent a ton of the community packing early. The backlash was so intense that Starbreeze ended up letting go of then-CEO Tobias Sjögren not long after.

By late 2024, the studio dialed back big time, announcing plans to pour “significantly less” money into year-two content for the game. That shift came after earlier cuts too, including around 15% of the workforce gone between 2024 and early 2025, plus more hits in late 2025 tied to scrapping their Dungeons & Dragons project.

Financial headaches haven't helped. Reports from a couple years back showed hefty losses, and the focus has stayed locked on trying to salvage Payday's future.

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Tags: Starbreeze Studios Payday

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