Starbreeze has canceled its upcoming Dungeons & Dragons game, which was in the works under the working title Project Baxter. The developer said its board of directors and management opted to cancel the project after a “strategic review” found that resources would be better deployed on its successful Payday franchise instead.
Starbreeze is taking an impairment charge of about SEK 255 million ($27.2 million) as a result of Project Baxter’s cancellation.
“This was a difficult but necessary decision,” Starbreeze CEO Adolf Kristjansson said. “Our strategy is clear: Payday is one of the most iconic IPs in gaming, with unmatched reach and potential. By focusing our investment and talent here, we can accelerate delivery, engage players with more content, and reinforce Starbreeze’s position as the clear leader in the heisting genre. This is about sharpening our focus to create the strongest long-term value for our players, our people, and our shareholders.”
Layoffs
Some developers who were working on Project Baxter are now shifting to other teams at Starbreeze, including the Payday unit. Others are being let go. “Where internal opportunities are limited, Starbreeze will provide active support for affected employees to transition to new roles across the industry,” the company said, adding that about 44 developers, including full-time employees and contractors, are losing their jobs as part of this move.
Kristjansson went on to say that Starbreeze is “doubling down” on the heisting genre, including Payday and “the future expansion of the genre.”
The cancellation of Project Baxter, layoffs, and further focus on Payday and the heist genre overall, will help Starbreeze become “cash-flow positive in 2026,” the company said.
“I want to sincerely thank the Baxter team for their passion and creativity, and express appreciation to Wizards of the Coast for their support,” Kristjansson said. “Though we have made the decision to not continue forward with this project, we are proud of what was achieved in Baxter, and those contributions will carry forward into Payday and the future of Starbreeze. By concentrating our efforts on Payday we give Starbreeze and all our employees the best chance to succeed.”
What’s next for Starbreeze
Starbreeze also outlined some of what’s to come in the future, including the aforementioned doubling down on Payday. The latest entry in the series, Payday 3, is nowhere near as successful as Payday 2, at least on Steam and in terms of concurrent players. However, Starbreeze said today that it continues to deploy updates and improvements to Payday 3 to help t become a “scalable live-engagement platform to engage millions of players worldwide.”
“The franchise will evolve into a modern live-engagement game through ongoing technology upgrades, expansion and refinement of the player experience, and enhanced engagement models designed to be both fair and sustainable,” Starbreeze said.
For Payday 3, Starbreeze said the team working on the game will grow to about 50 people before the end of 2025 and will scale from there in line with player engagement, if it comes.
Payday 2 continues to get new updates and improvements as well, and the game recently added a subscription offering to get all the DLC for a monthly charge.
“New games and experiences” are coming
Starbreeze said the Payday franchise has reached more than 50 million people to date and has generated almost SEK 4 billion ($427.3 million) in lifetime gross revenue.
Given the immense success of Payday, Starbreeze said today that it is working on “new games and experiences that broaden the heisting genre beyond Starbreeze’s core projects.” These will include spin-offs, narrative-driven projects, and “franchise expansion” to new platforms. Finally, Starbreeze said in its memo to investors that Starbreeze will continue to take on work-for-hire jobs to help supplement the company’s revenue.
“This strategy is about execution and growth–with greater quality and predictability,” Kristjansso said. “Our goal is to keep Payday evolving as a modern live-engagement game, and to open new ways for players to experience the heisting genre through heisting experiences and special operations. By focusing on delivering lasting value to players, we strengthen the foundation that drives sustainable growth for Starbreeze.”
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