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Payday dev Starbreeze says it's paid the majority of its creditors

Cash back.

Starbreeze has paid the majority of its creditors, it's said.

The company behind Payday completed payments during the fourth quarter as part of a plan established by the Stockholm District Court on December 6, 2019.

Starbreeze has been under threat ever since the disastrous launch of Overkill's The Walking Dead on Steam. The game flopped, causing severe financial issues and the acrimonious exit of boss Bo Andersson. Check out our feature, The fall of Starbreeze for more.

But after a reorganisation, layoffs, the selling off of various publishing rights and a focus on Payday 2, it seems Starbreeze is starting to sort itself out.

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Supplier creditors and small supplier creditors who were included in the reorganisation plan are now paid off, Starbreeze said. Now, only part of the debt owed to financial services company Nordea, and debt related to the controvertible bond it secured when Italian game company Digital Bros bought the assets held by Korean Crossfire developer Smilegate (Starbreeze was working on a co-op take on Crossfire for Smilegate before its collapse), remain.

Since Starbreeze fell into financial turmoil, it has sold off its rights to System Shock 3 and 10 Crowns. In October 2019, Starbreeze said it would release Payday 3 in 2022-2023. At the time, the company said it expected to secure a publisher for Payday 3 at some point in 2020, and a significantly improved cash flow from 2022 on. However, it has so far made no announcement of a deal for Payday 3.