Starbreeze Studios, the team behind Payday 3, was just hit by layoffs. According to an initial report from Insider Gaming, several employees went to LinkedIn on January 21st to confirm that layoffs were taking place at the studio. At the time of this going live, Starbreeze has yet to make any official announcement.
Alexander Pereswetoff-Morath is one such former employee that announced the layoffs on LinkedIn. In their statement, Pereswetoff-Morath says that "many" at Starbreeze "got sad news" and that he is "now seeking a new role and would appreciate your support." Pereswetoff-Morath continues, "after over 7 years, the longest I’ve ever been at any company in any industry, my time has (more than likely) come."
Sabina af Jochnick, a senior tech producer at Starbreeze, said that their "role has been identified as at risk of redundancy." As a result, they are already "beginning to look at what's next," which suggests that they are already looking for employment elsewhere should more layoffs happen.
The total number of layoffs at Starbreeze is not yet known.
This week's layoffs at Starbreeze come about two and a half years following the release of the poorly received Payday 3. This co-op heist shooter seemed to miss the mark with both critics and fans alike. Even now, recent reviews for Payday 3 on Steam sit at "Mixed" with only a 57% positive rating.
The launch of Payday 3 was so bad that Starbreeze fired its CEO, Tobias Sjögren, in March 2024. The studio also said they would invest "significantly less" in the post-launch content support for Payday 3. Still, the studio did just release Update 3.1 for the game on January 13, 2026. This update added a Shopping Spree heist, among other things.
