Starbreeze turns around 15-year loss in 6 months, commits two more years of Payday 2 DLC

Starbreeze has turned around a 15-year long net loss within six months, according to the company's half-year earnings report, attributed to healthy digital sales and the success of Payday 2 and Brothers: A tale of Two Sons.

"To put the past six months in perspective, I would like to highlight that Starbreeze historically, from 1998 to June 2013, accumulated a total loss of SEK 94 million ($14.4 million)," according to CEO Bo Andersson Klint. "Thanks to our new business model, reorganization and a focus on our own brands, we have — in only two quarters — generated a profit before tax of SEK 104 million ($15.94 million). I would like to think that is what they call a turnaround."

Bo Andersson attributes the success of the latest quarter to "a working digital pulse sale that mainly took place via the digital distribution service Steam." Net sales for the past six months totaled SEK 130.4 million ($20 million), an increase of SEK 104.6 million ($16 million) over the same period last year. Of that figure, Payday 2 accounted for SEK 121.1 million ($18.56 million), Payday: The Heist for SEK 7.7 million ($1.18 million) and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons for SEK 1.6 million ($245,000). Operating income before depreciation for the period totaled SEK 110.5 million ($17 million) and SEK 29.1 million ($4.47 million) for the quarter.

The company signed a reworked Payday 2 contract with publisher 505 Games, replacing the old agreement of five DLC packages and committing to another two other years of DLC for Payday 2.

"The new improved contract, worth $6 million, gives us the security to, for the next 20 months, focus on developing and refining Payday 2 so that it becomes the best co-operative gaming experience available on the market, with many more add-on packages and other exciting events planned," he wrote.

Going forward, Starbreeze's Board is targeting a listing on Nasdaq OMX Small Cap list.