Starbreeze has officially canceled ‘Project Baxter,’ their cooperative Dungeons & Dragons game. This tough decision comes with a significant number of layoffs across the development team, as the company shifts its focus entirely to strengthening its flagship ‘Payday’ franchise.
Originally announced in December 2023, ‘Project Baxter’ was envisioned as an Unreal Engine 5 D&D game. It aimed to deliver the signature Starbreeze experience: cooperative multiplayer, a long-term commitment through a Games as a Service model, strong community engagement, and an expansive, larger-than-life adventure. The studio had planned for a 2026 launch on all major platforms, complete with cross-play functionality. However, updates on the game’s progress had been sparse, with only a single in-engine image shared on social media in September 2024.
Despite previous reassurances in November of last year that development was “at full speed” and Starbreeze was “still hiring for Project Baxter,” the project’s fate has now changed. The company had stated they were conducting weekly internal playtests and actively discussing potential collaborations for the game’s development and launch with leading industry players. As of November 2024, Starbreeze employed 191 people, with the majority working from their Stockholm, Sweden headquarters.
The cancellation of ‘Project Baxter’ will result in a SEK 255 million (approximately $27.2 million USD) write-down in development costs for the Swedish company. CEO Adolf Kristjansson described the decision as “difficult but necessary” but did not specify any particular development issues that led to the project’s termination.
Kristjansson emphasized the company’s new strategic direction: “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.”
While some members of the ‘Baxter’ team will be reassigned to other Starbreeze projects, primarily within the ‘Payday’ division, approximately 44 full-time employees and contractors will be losing their jobs.
Kristjansson reiterated, “We are doubling down on what our players love – and what we do best – owning the heisting genre. Payday is more than a game — it’s a genre we created and continue to lead. By redeploying talent and capital, we can bring innovation to heisting gameplay faster, while also laying the foundation for the future expansion of the genre.”
The ‘Payday’ franchise boasts a global player base of over 50 million, generating nearly SEK 4 billion (around $427 million USD) in lifetime gross revenue. Starbreeze believes this intensified focus will allow them to “accelerate its roadmap, delivering more frequent updates, new content drops, and continuous live-engagement.” The company projects that the discontinuation of ‘Project Baxter’ and the renewed emphasis on ‘Payday’ will help them achieve cash-flow positivity by 2026.
Kristjansson extended his gratitude, saying, “I want to sincerely thank the Baxter team for their passion and creativity, and express appreciation to Wizards of the Coast for their support. Though we have made the decision to not continue forward with this project, we are proud of what was achieved in Baxter, and those contributions will carry forward into Payday and the future of Starbreeze. By concentrating our efforts on Payday we give Starbreeze and all our employees the best chance to succeed.”
Regarding Starbreeze’s future, despite the 12-year-old ‘Payday 2’ still having a larger player count than ‘Payday 3’ on Steam, the developer remains committed. They assert that ‘Payday 3’ is being developed as “a scalable live-engagement platform to engage millions of players worldwide,” with its team expected to grow to about 50 employees by year-end and expand further with increased player engagement. Furthermore, Starbreeze is exploring new heist game concepts, including spin-offs and narrative-focused projects, and plans to bring ‘Payday’ to new platforms, all while also offering its services as a work-for-hire studio.