Struggling Payday 2 developer Starbreeze intends to lay off 60 members of staff, which is around a quarter of its entire workforce.
It’s unclear where the cuts will be made, with the company simply reiterating its plan to “focus on its core business, game development and publishing.” The layoffs are expected to be “fully implemented” in November, and will result in a monthly cost reduction of approximately $317,000.
Starbreeze has been in reconstruction since December, after being plunged into financial disarray following the lackluster launch of Overkill’s The Walking Dead — which prompted the departure of then CEO, Bo Andersson.
Back in May, the Swedish studio revealed it lacks the funds to operate for another year, and has been raising cash by selling off various assets such as Indian art studio Dhruva and the publishing rights to titles like 10 Crowns and System Shock 3.
“In the past six months we have made a number of changes to the business following our strategy to focus on the core business,” explained Starbreeze CEO, Mikael Nermark.
“We have divested some operations that we consider non-core and we now have to look inward to make the core business more efficient. To make staff reductions is a tough decision to make, but necessary to enable Starbreeze to develop well long-term.”