Swedish game developer and publisher Starbreeze Studios today announced an agreement to purchase the full rights to the Payday franchise from publisher 505 Games for about $30 million in the company's stock.
Starbreeze also noted that 505 will get a third of all revenue from the future sales of Payday 3 up to $40 million, after Starbreeze has recouped its development and marketing costs.
The transaction will give Starbreeze full rights to the franchise for any future development or "commercialization," according to a statement on the company's site. That includes Payday 2 and Payday for mobile. The company will retain full net revenue on the Steam platform for the game dating back to May 1. Sales generated by Payday 2 will continue to be split between the companies as before and 505 Games will continue to publish the game.
"Payday is very close to my heart, and has laid the foundation for Starbreeze success in recent years. We’re very excited to bring our heisters home to the safe house," said Bo Andersson Klint, Starbreeze CEO, in a prepared statement. "To start with, we believe in the continued success of Payday 2 and will support it for at least another 18 months continuing expanding the game."
Developers Overkill, which are owned by Starbreeze, also announced that they would be giving away a community grenade, the skills tree and making the black market free for everyone going forward, effectively doing away with Payday 2 microtransactions.
Make sure to watch the announcement video below for a fun surprise packed into the end.