Starbreeze has seen lots of ups and downs these last couple of years, but recently, they’ve started putting their financial troubles behind them, and the development of Payday 3 is looking to be in much more secure position. The developer has been on the lookout for a publisher for the co-op shooter for a while, and though they ran into some hurdles last year due to COVID, that search has now successfully ended.
It’s been announced that Starbreeze has entered into a co-publishing agreement for Payday 3 with Koch Media. Meanwhile, the latter has also invested €50 million for the purposes of the continued long-term development and marketing of the game.
“We are excited to announce this exclusive long-term Payday 3 co-publishing deal with Koch Media who shares our passion for the PAYDAY franchise and the ‘Games as a service’ model,” said Tobias Sjögren, acting CEO of Starbreeze. “In addition to securing the continued development, this deal secures global publishing of Payday 3 as well as the marketing efforts through the entire game life cycle. We now have a strong foundation for a successful launch of Payday 3.”
“We are delighted to welcome Starbreeze as a new partner for our global publishing business,” said Klemens Kundratitz, CEO of Koch Media Group. “Payday 3 is shaping up to be an incredible game. Based on what we’ve seen already, Payday 3 is going to take the franchise to new heights and will delight Payday fans as well as new audiences alike with innovative multiplayer gameplay.”
Starbreeze also confirms that Payday 3 will launch for PC and consoles (no further details on the latter yet) in 2023, and that it will be supported with post-launch content “with additional content and functionalities planned for long beyond the original release date.”