Syndicate dev's next game is F2P Cold Mercury

The developer of The Darkness, Riddick and Syndicate is making a free to play game called Cold Mercury.

Starbreeze is also seeking a distribution deal for its mysterious P13 project, which it is developing with Swedish filmmaker Josef Fares. It pitched the project to various interested parties at GDC this month, GamesIndustry International reports.

Despite Starbreeze's move into the freemium market, it has not left big budget development behind, it said.

"Starbreeze will not leave the AAA segment," boss Mikael Nermark said. "We are discussing with several leading game publisher on publisher financed games, but we will broaden our product portfolio of games in the new business models and segments that have arisen in the games industry.

"I am convinced that Starbreeze will be successful with the new games."

The P13 project is based on a concept developed and pitched by Fares, who has a number of hit Swedish films under his belt. Swedish media company The Story Lab is also on board.

"I love games, and I have been working on a games concept for quite some time," Fares said in September last year. "The more I worked with the concept, the more convinced I felt that this is a solid game idea.

"Together with The Story Lab we created two prototypes that we pitched to the game developer Starbreeze. They liked the idea, and here we are now."

Starbreeze was quick to give the new game the thumbs up. "Directly when Josef presented the idea, we understood that it's a very elaborate concept and that it can be a really great," Nermak said. "We started immediately doing sketches the very same day."

Starbreeze's last game was first-person shooter Syndicate, for EA. The Swedish studio made The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay in 2004, The Darkness in 2007, and The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena in 2009.