Payday 3 studio Starbreeze reportedly makes another round of layoffs

Payday 3 developer Starbreeze has reportedly undergone yet another wave of job cuts, with multiple employees announcing their departures on social media.

The details:

• As spotted by Insider Gaming, several former employees took to LinkedIn to confirm the layoffs, with the company itself yet to make a public statement regarding the cuts. It appears that several teams at the Stockholm headquarters have been impacted by the restructuring, including its quality assurance, community, production, and development staff.
• It’s currently unknown how many employees have been affected, but the cuts follow a previous round of layoffs in October 2025, which saw 44 staff members let go after the cancellation of its Dungeons & Dragons project. Following the decision, the studio stated that it would continue to place its focus on the Payday franchise going forward, which has remained its most popular IP.
• Starbreeze has undergone several major changes in leadership and strategy in response to the disastrous launch of Payday 3 in September 2023, which was met with poor reviews and low player numbers due to its technical issues and always-online structure. The following year, CEO Tobias Sjögren was removed from his role, and in 2025, the company acquired full publishing rights from Plaion, although attempts to attract players to the game have been unsuccessful.