Starbreeze Cancels Co-Op D&D Game to Focus on Payday IP

Starbreeze has canceled the Dungeons & Dragons co-op game known as Project Baxter, laid off a significant part of its development team, and announced plans to double down on the Payday franchise.

This move was called by the company a ‘part of the strategic shift,’ as revealed via a post on Starbreeze’s official website on Oct. 2, 2025.

Project Baxter was slated to launch in 2026. This cancellation comes with a write-off of about $27 million invested in the game and the firing of at least 44 employees across internal developers and external contractors.

According to the announcement, Starbreeze will shortly present its updated strategy, detailing its renewed Payday-centered growth path and plans to expand the heisting genre.

“This was a difficult but necessary decision,” said Adolf Kristjansson, CEO of Starbreeze. “Our strategy is clear: Payday is one of the most iconic IPs in gaming, with unmatched reach and potential. By focusing our investment and talent here, we can accelerate delivery, engage players with more content, and reinforce Starbreeze’s position as the clear leader in the heisting genre. This is about sharpening our focus to create the strongest long-term value for our players, our people, and our shareholders.”

Starbreeze Studios acquired the full rights to the Payday franchise from 505 Games in May 2016. This acquisition included all intellectual property rights for future developments and commercialization of the series, encompassing Payday 2 and the original Payday game for mobile platforms. The transaction was valued at approximately $30 million.

Notably, even 12 years after its launch, Payday 2, developed by Overkill Software and published by 505 Games, features (as of the time of writing) a 24-hour peak of 35,061 players, according to SteamDB, with an all-time peak of 247,709 users, while Payday 3, developed by Starbreeze Studios and published by Deep Silver, a 2-year-old title, has a much smaller 24-hour peak of only 1,918 players, according to SteamDB, with an all-time peak of 77,938 users.