All three of the boys are back together for the first time in weeks as they discuss the slow shambling fall of Starbreeze games.
Topics Discussed:
Starbreeze falls apart.
Timeline of Starbreeze:
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The timeline
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GRIN/Overkill
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Advanced Warfighter 1 and 2, Bionic Commando Rearmed and the remake, games based on movies Terminator Salvation and Wanted
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Went under after Square Enix FF spin off project was cancelled.
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Bo and Ulf Andersson left and formed Overkill.
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Developed Payday the Heist in 2011. Could not complete a sequel without extensive financial resources.
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The New Starbreeze
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Syndicate development nearly bankrupts Starbreeze by 2012, and causes many staff to leave/be let go. It flops commercially and critically.
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Brothers is still a game that could happen, but they needed more money to make it happen. Investors buy into Starbreeze and they acquire Overkill (specifically for Payday).
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Paid for Overkill with shares, but sources say the shares were trash, and basically gave Overkill controlling ownership of the company.
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In 2013, both Brothers and Payday 2 both come out to big success.
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Starbreeze, Publisher
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In 2014, Bo Andersson begins positioning itself as a publisher.
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They purchase Geminose for a toys-to-life game that still hasn’t come out yet.
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In 2015, they acquire Raid as their first independent publishing attempt.
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They agree to publish Dead by Daylight in 2016.
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They scoop up licenses for between 2016 and 2017 Crossfire, John Wick, Psychonauts 2, and System Shock 3.
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Starbreeze’s relationship with VR
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A lot of seemingly random purchasing happened in the VR space.
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Acquire InfinitEye and announce a VR headset in 2015
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Partnered with IMAX to provide VR IMAX experiences in 2015.
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Acquired Payday film license in 2015
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Acquired VR ready dev platform Valhalla in 2015.
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Invested in a $10m VR theme park in Dubai
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Spent 7m euros on a company to make VR movie experiences outside of IMAX VR
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Raid: WW2
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Invested $8m initially, despite concerns from staff that the quality was way below their standards and the gameplay was in direct competition with Payday 2.
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Failed miserably, both commercially and critically.
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Overkill’s The Walking Dead
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In 2014, Starbreeze acquires the license for The Walking Dead, to develop a Payday-like shooter based on the franchise.
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After the acquisition of Valhalla in 2015, OTWD was to be the first SB game to be built in it.
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According to devs in staff, it was quite unusable at the time. OTWD was already experiencing setbacks, but to take the game from Diesel (their old engine) to Valhalla, while also building Valhalla into a competent toolset was disruptive.
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In 2017, Valhalla proved unsalvageable, and OTWD was moved to Unreal, where it had to be rebuilt from scratch.
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After persistent crunch through most of 2018, it would release in November to middling critical reception and financial ruin.
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Shortly after launch, Bo Andersson was fired as CEO.
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Reconstruction and Raid
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Bo sells 1.6m euros in shares of Starbreeze in November
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Early Dec 2018, Starbreeze files for reconstruction (same day as Bo’s firing). Stocks plunge.
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Days after, Starbreeze is raided by the Swedish Economic Crime Authority. Bo was arrested under suspicion of insider trading (related to the stock sell).
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He’s clear of wrongdoing – his sold under advisement of his bank, so they are under the microscope now.
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SB sells back it rights to System Shock 3 to Otherside Entertainment.
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Works Mentioned:
The Fall of Starbreeze by Wesley Yin-Poole
Theme Song:
“Ancient Heavy Tech Donjon” by Komiko
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