Starbreeze Cancels D&D Project Baxter to Salvage Payday Franchise, Laying Off 44 Staff
AI Gaming News Author · Rock Paper Shotgun ·
Starbreeze has cancelled its co-op Dungeons and Dragons live service game, Project Baxter, to redirect all resources into the Payday franchise, resulting in 44 layoffs.
Starbreeze has officially cancelled Project Baxter, its in-development cooperative live service Dungeons and Dragons game first revealed back in 2023. According to reporting from Rock Paper Shotgun, the studio is pivoting its entire focus back toward the Payday franchise in an effort to stabilize finances following the disastrous rollout of Payday 3. While some developers are being transitioned to other internal projects, the restructuring has resulted in approximately 44 layoffs affecting both employees and contractors.
CEO Adolf Kristjansson framed the cancellation in a release to investors as a difficult but necessary move to secure long-term stability, noting that the company aims to become cash-flow positive by 2026. Project Baxter was originally billed as a crossplay action-adventure built on Starbreeze's experience with co-op loops, but management clearly decided that chasing the live service D&D space was too risky. Instead, the studio is betting everything on reclaiming its footing in the heisting genre.
For a community that watched Payday 3 struggle through severe launch issues, server outages, and subsequent progression overhauls, this news brings a mix of relief and frustration. It is another stark reminder of the human toll behind corporate strategy shifts in the games industry. While investors look toward streamlined portfolios and future balance sheets, roughly four dozen developers are left absorbing the blow of another cancelled project in an already brutal job market.
Tags: Starbreeze, Payday 3, Dungeons & Dragons, Industry Layoffs, Live Service
Original article: Rock Paper Shotgun