Juergen Goeldner, a board member of Starbreeze and previous CEO of Focus Home Interactive, has been appointed as interim CEO of Starbreeze and is taking office with immediate effect, Starbreeze Entertainment announced today. A recruitment process for a permanent CEO has been initiated, and while Starbreeze didn’t elaborate on why Tobias Sjögren is mostly out, many believe it has all to do with PAYDAY 3’s launch and poor reception, which has been described by some as a “disaster” due to server issues and weaker-than-expected player counts.
Torgny Hellström, Chairman of Starbreeze, confirmed the news, stating:
- “The company has a clear strategy centered around creating attractive games on our own and licensed IPs. The board’s consolidated assessment is that the execution of strategy needs a different leadership.”
- “Juergen Goeldner has been part of the board since 2023 and, with over 40 years of industry experience, is a strong interim solution.”
- “On behalf of the board of directors, I would like to thank Tobias Sjögren for his achievements during the past three years. Tobias took over the helm of Starbreeze in a challenging phase of its journey and we wish him well in his future endeavors.”
IGN noted in its coverage:
Starbreeze boasted Payday 3 had 3.1 million players as of October 2, but this number has dwindled, at least on Steam, as many more players are currently playing Payday 2 than its sequel. According to SteamDB, Payday 3 has a 24-hour peak of just 378 players compared to Payday 2’s 31,866, despite the latter launching over a decade ago. Payday 3 has an ‘overwhelmingly negative’ recent user review rating on Steam.
Tobias Sjögren thanking fans for their support in September 2023:
Operation Medic Bag, a new roadmap of updates meant to improve PAYDAY 3, was launched last month:
…a heartfelt thank you to all heisters who have shown their passion by leaving feedback, reviews and comments telling us what PAYDAY 3 can and should be.