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The Fall of Starbreeze

Wunderbar

Arcane
Joined
Nov 15, 2015
Messages
8,809
Riddick Escape from Butcher Bay was a brilliant game and technical marvel when it was released.
I say that as someone who's never even bothered watching a single Riddick film.
It was followed by an extremely average/poor & short sequel.
Then the crappy Syndicate game.
...after that I can't say I followed anything they released or even heard of them ever again.
A one hit wonder as far as I'm concerned.
before Riddick there was Enclave, great third-person action game in the vein of Rune and Severance BoD.
Also Knights of the Temple came out after Riddick and was pretty fun. It was short and decent, but the music is just chef's kiss.
i was hyped to play it after Enclave, but then was put off by a steep decline in almost everything, especially level design. Levels declined from Rune-level to almost DMC2 level.
 

zwanzig_zwoelf

Graverobber Foundation
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Riddick Escape from Butcher Bay was a brilliant game and technical marvel when it was released.
I say that as someone who's never even bothered watching a single Riddick film.
It was followed by an extremely average/poor & short sequel.
Then the crappy Syndicate game.
...after that I can't say I followed anything they released or even heard of them ever again.
A one hit wonder as far as I'm concerned.
before Riddick there was Enclave, great third-person action game in the vein of Rune and Severance BoD.
Also Knights of the Temple came out after Riddick and was pretty fun. It was short and decent, but the music is just chef's kiss.
i was hyped to play it after Enclave, but then was put off by a steep decline in almost everything, especially level design. Levels declined from Rune-level to almost DMC2 level.
True, but it was still a decent game for a few evenings. I have an impression they've spread themselves too thin at that time -- both Chronicles of Riddick and Knights of the Temple came out in the same year.
 

Infinitron

I post news
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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://www.starbreeze.com/2019/05/...the-indian-game-art-production-studio-dhruva/

STARBREEZE HAS SIGNED A BINDING AGREEMENT TO DIVEST THE INDIAN GAME ART PRODUCTION STUDIO DHRUVA
IMG_0852.jpg


STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (May 12, 2019) – Starbreeze has signed a binding agreement to divest its share of Indian subsidiary Dhruva. The total preliminary purchase price amounts to 7.9 MUSD and Starbreeze share of the company is 91.82%. The deal is expected to close before the half-year of 2019.

The preliminary purchase price of Dhruva is agreed to 7.9 MUSD and Starbreeze holds 91.82% of the shares in Dhruva. The consideration is subject to final accounts post closing. 15% of the purchase price will be held in escrow for 36 months, of which 50% will be released in 18 months.

The buyer wishes to be undisclosed at the time of this announcement but will be communicated as the transaction is finalized.

It's Rockstar, apparently: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...r-acquires-dhruva-from-starbreeze-for-usd7-9m

Rockstar acquires Dhruva Interactive from Starbreeze for $7.9m
Indian art production studio joins Red Dead Redemption publisher as Starbreeze continues to struggle

Today, Rockstar Games has announced it has acquired Indian art production studio Dhruva Interactive for $7.9 million from Starbreeze.

The sale, which is expected to close sometime in the first half of this year, gives Rockstar Starbreeze's 91.82% share in Dhruva. The studio will operate alongside Rockstar India, both continuing its work on current projects for clients and joining Rockstar's current work in Bangalore.

Starbreeze initially acquired Dhruva in 2016 for $8.5 million. The art production studio, one of the biggest game companies in India, was founded in 1997 and at the time employed over 320 people. Credits before the Starbreeze acquisition include Halo 5, Forza Horizon 3, Quantum Break, and Sea of Thieves. It has also done work on Starbreeze's Payday 2.

"Rockstar Games are the undisputed leaders of innovation and creativity in modern game development," said Rajesh Rao, Dhruva's CEO and founder. "Dhruva Interactive was founded with the aim of creating a world-class game development community in India, and so bringing the Dhruva team under the Rockstar Games label is further proof that we have succeeded in creating a talented team that can contribute to the best games in the world while helping to create a thriving local game developer community in India."

The seller, Starbreeze, has seen a rough past year, culminating in its declaration during its Q1 financial results last week that the company would suffer a "liquidity shortfall" and not be able to last the full year if it did not get a new investment. The company has been attempting to pull itself together for several months now following poor performance of Overkill's The Walking Dead that lead to Skybound terminating its publishing agreement earlier this year, the CEO's departure and announcement of insolvency, raid on the company related to inside crimes in December of last year, and now a 56% year-over-year earnings loss for Q1 of this year.

The company's remaining major project of promise seems to be its announced Payday mobile game.
 
Last edited:

LESS T_T

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Codex 2014
Layoffs incoming: https://www.starbreeze.com/2019/06/starbreeze-implements-organizational-changes-to-reduce-costs/

Starbreeze implements organizational changes to reduce costs

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (June 4, 2019)Starbreeze has decided to make organizational changes in order to make the organization more efficient and reduce costs. As a consequence, the number of employees will be reduced by approx. 60. The changes are expected to be fully implemented in November and will correspond to a cost reduction of approximately 3 MSEK per month.

Starbreeze is in reconstruction as of December 2018 and is in a challenging financial situation.The company has decided to focus on its core business, game development and publishing.

To be able to operate an efficient and profitable business long-term, Starbreeze has decided to implement organizational changes. Today, the Starbreeze group has 240 people employed, and the company has decided to reduce the number of employees by approximately 60. The staff reduction is expected to be fully implemented in November and will correspond to a monthly cost reduction of approximately 3 MSEK. The organizational changes affect the Stockholm office and is carried out in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.

”In the past six months we have made a number of changes to the business following our strategy to focus on the core business. 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”, says Mikael Nermark, CEO Starbreeze.
 

Wirdschowerdn

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Inb4 "Starbroke announces a remastered version to the groundbreaking, BAFTA-nominated Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons coming to Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Infinity, Google Play, Google Stadia, iOS, Epic Game Store and Playstation Now."

Starbroke also teases a Brothers sequel coming to Kickstarter, titled "Trannies: A Tale of Two Trannies".
 

LESS T_T

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Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
PAYDAY 3 in 2022-2023: https://www.starbreeze.com/2019/10/starbreeze-provides-estimate-of-future-cash-flows/

STARBREEZE PROVIDES ESTIMATE OF FUTURE CASH FLOWS

STOCKHOLM (October 11, 2019) – In light of the ongoing reconstruction work, Starbreeze AB (publ) provides an estimate of the business’s future cash flows from operations. The company estimates that these cash flows will be positive, based on expected new publishing agreements in 2020 and an expected release of PAYDAY 3 in 2022–2023.

The estimate of cash flows from operations for the coming four years is provided in the form of the following graph:

Estimated_cash_flow_1923-e1570799009450-1.jpg


The cash flows in the graph above are based on the following expected events:
  • Release of PAYDAY 3 estimated to take place in 2022–2023
  • Publishing agreement for PAYDAY 3 concluded* during the first half of 2020 and an initial payment instalment is received, after which the continued development of the product is financed by the publishing partner
  • Publishing agreement for PAYDAY: Crime War concluded* during the first half of 2020 and an initial payment instalment is received, after which the continued development of the product is financed by the publishing partner
* In conjunction with the signing of these publishing agreements, the possibility of payment to the creditors is created in the ongoing reconstruction work. The payment to the creditors is estimated to be able to amount to approximately SEK 40 million.

Information on the ongoing reconstruction work

As part of the reconstruction, assets and personnel attributable to the core business have been transferred to two new companies, New Starbreeze Publishing AB and New Starbreeze Studios AB. IP rights make up the majority of the assets and have been transferred to New Starbreeze Publishing AB. It is in New Starbreeze Publishing AB that the Group’s cash flows will be generated.

In the reconstruction work, one of the four major international accounting firms has also valued the company’s assets, which is the basis for the transfer of assets that has taken place to the subsidiary New Starbreeze Publishing AB. These assets (mainly IP rights for PAYDAY) have been valued at SEK 1,600 million. Corresponding assets are recognized in the consolidated balance sheet at SEK 333 million as of June 30, 2019.

The reconstruction work is continuing and the company intends to present a reconstruction plan shortly. As part of this work, the company will send letters to the creditors in the next few days with proposals for settlement. The letters will be followed by composition negotiations, after which the final reconstruction plan will be presented.

What the company reports in this press release is not a forecast, but merely a cash flow estimate to enable creditors to form an opinion about the future repayment ability of Starbreeze.
 

Infinitron

I post news
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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
https://steamcommunity.com/games/218620/announcements/detail/1665695876816570722

Winds of Change

A message from the new Starbreeze CEO

Heisters,

I’m posting this today to communicate a few of the changes coming to PAYDAY 2. Most of you don’t know me, and that’s how it should be. The day to day interactions you have with our OVERKILL devs, community managers and moderator crew are by far more interesting, I’m sure. Our team, together with you, provide a forum where firsthand input can be discussed, and these are dialogues that directly affect our current and future development. I took over the helm in December of last year (for the second time). I see myself primarily as the custodian, facilitator of making great games. If you look at a company as a well-oiled machine; every cog in the engine is more important than I. I’m just here to make sure everything’s clean, oiled, and running smoothly. My job is to create an environment where the team can focus on what’s important, the game(s). As many of you may or may not know, our company has gone through something of a purgatory fire in the past year. Because of this, we’re announcing a few PAYDAY 2 changes today. I’ll summarize them here in a TL;DR right here at the top, and then dive into the details:
  • Last year PAYDAY 2 development was stopped. Having reconsidered our future, I’ve asked the OVERKILL crew to resume production on PAYDAY 2. The game will have more updates going forward, both paid and free.
  • The team is working hard on the first new update, I will let the team present it soon™, but you can get a sneak peek here.
  • We’re re-introducing the DLC smörgåsbord again. An à la carte option of previous legacy content DLCs will be made available again starting today!
  • As a part of our journey into the future, we’ll be changing the PAYDAY 2: Ultimate Edition to PAYDAY 2: Legacy Collection starting later today. We want to be able to move forward together with all of you in our community, and to be able to do this we need to retire the promise of free future content based on old assumptions (more below).
  • New curated bundles on existing content will be created to give great offers to new and returning players.
Preface

In the beginning of this wall of text, I mentioned the purgatory fire that we’ve been through in the past months, and challenges we’re still facing. To keep it relevant and not too lengthy, I’ll condense some of the background to this here, most of the details can be found on our website if you’d like to learn more.

Late 2018 Starbreeze found itself in an acute liquidity shortfall (fancy words for: “we were urgently really out of cash”). In December of 2018, Starbreeze entered into “reconstruction”, a procedure similar to the US version of Chapter 11. On December 3rd, we only had projected cash reserves to run the company until mid-January 2019. This was how serious the situation had become. Since then we’ve been able, through extremely hard work and commitment by all of our employees, been able to stay afloat, clean up our business and start thinking about our future and the future of PAYDAY. We’re not entirely there yet, but we are starting to look ahead at what’s next. This brings me to the changes we’re making.

PAYDAY 2: Legacy Collection & À la carte

To get it out of the door immediately; yes, I know we’re breaking a promise. We do not do so with ease or take this lightly.

At one point in time, our company believed that the interest and engagement in PAYDAY 2 would decline over time, as new internal games were released. Resources were needed on new projects and production of PAYDAY 2 was scheduled to stop and no more updates to come. By popular demand this deadline was extended a few times, but development on PAYDAY 2 ultimately shut down December 2018.

It was also believed that the sheer amount of six years of DLC-releases was confusing for returning or new players and a blocker for people to get into the game. At the same time, getting the game with all of its content, was coming in above 200 USD, a respectable sum for any game. Hence, PAYDAY 2: Ultimate Edition was born as a packaged deal. It was basically the promise of “get everything PAYDAY 2 in a package, until we release the next installment of PAYDAY”.

Now we’re breaking the Ultimate Edition promise of forever-free-content. The reasoning for this is plain and simple:

We want to move forward and make more of PAYDAY 2, and to do so we need your support to continue producing content. New DLCs will be a mix of paid and free updates.

Enter The PAYDAY 2: Legacy Collection!

The Ultimate Edition will be retired today, but PAYDAY 2: Legacy Collection will immediately replace it. This will still be the best offer on anything released 2018 or earlier. Also:

À la carte is back on the table!

I’ve had reports from our team that the smörgåsbord, or à la carte option, to be able to purchase DLC separately, is very much requested; I’m happy to announce that we’re making individual DLC available again starting later today. The prices for the individual DLCs will remain as stated as the original price in the bundles.

More Payday 2!

What about the next content drop for PAYDAY 2? Be patient with our team please. They’re working hard to deliver the next PAYDAY 2 update and will present it in all its glory, sneak peek here!

Thank you for your support and for sticking by us.

Mikael
CEO Starbreeze / OVERKILL
 

thesecret1

Arcane
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Jun 30, 2019
Messages
5,676
tl;dr: "Old CEO was an idiot who decided to kill our cash cow, so I decided to bring it back from the dead and hopefully save us from bankrupcy"
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
Payday can't come soon enough: https://www.starbreeze.com/2019/11/starbreeze-ab-publ-interim-q3-2019-report/

ACTING CEO MIKAEL NERMARK REMARKS ON THE REPORT:
PAYDAY – THE CORE BUSINESS

Our work to re-focus the business on games with in-house IP is continuing apace and PAYDAY – our biggest asset – is central to our efforts. In parallel, we can see that our cost savings across the Group have begun to have effects during the quarter. We have also determined that it will be possible to further reduce administrative expenses once we are out of reconstruction. Reconstruction efforts progressed with the same focus in the third quarter and we requested, and was granted, an additional extension in September up until December.

With the focusing of the business, and primarily on PAYDAY, our goal is clear. Our focused efforts are showing effect all over our organization, which is already shown in what is being produced. The work with PAYDAY 3, our most important future product, has intensified and we are reworking the design phase.

We are preparing to find a good publishing partner in 2020. The key word here is partner. We are looking for someone as committed to PAYDAY as we are, a company that can help us further develop the brand over the next ten years. Our contacts with potential publishing partners in recent years, and especially in the last 12 months, have demonstrated the strength of the brand and I am confident that we are going to find the right ally for the future.

Universal, our publishing partner for the mobile game PAYDAY: Crime War, decided during the quarter to discontinue its mobile game publishing business. We are now working together to end the collaboration in the best way possible. We have assessed whether Starbreeze should publish the game independently, but have determined that we are likely to achieve a better outcome with a partner that is adept at user acquisition for this type of mobile game.

Within the framework of the reconstruction process, a letter to creditors was sent in mid-October to all creditors of Starbreeze AB and the five subsidiaries that are under construction. In the letter we laid out a suggestion on how Starbreeze plans to repay the debt in full. I hope that all our creditors will accept the suggested terms.

The company’s future and further development is my continued primary focus. A publishing deal for PAYDAY 3 and PAYDAY: Crime War are key components, but also making sure that we deliver products with high quality. It will be achieved by creating an environment where the company can focus on its task, something which we are seeing the start of. After almost a year in reconstruction and as the CEO of the company, my colleagues and I are focusing on bringing the reconstruction to a close in a positive way. As we are nearing the end of this year I look towards the future with optimism. A future where PAYDAY is our top priority.
 
Self-Ejected

unfairlight

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Guy must have a tough job, trying to save that ship with duct tape and wood glue.
 

LESS T_T

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Codex 2014
Somehow: https://www.starbreeze.com/2019/12/...rict-court-approved-the-composition-proposal/

STARBREEZE HAS SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED THE COMPANY RECONSTRUCTION PROCESS, STOCKHOLM DISTRICT COURT APPROVED THE COMPOSITION PROPOSAL

STOCKHOLM (December 6, 2019) – The Stockholm District Court has today approved the composition proposal regarding Starbreeze’s company reconstruction. Starbreeze, which has been in reconstruction since 3 December 2018, has now successfully completed the process.

“Today, we are delighted and proud to announce that we have successfully completed the reconstruction process,” said Mikael Nermark, acting CEO Starbreeze AB. “It has been a toilsome journey for the entire company over the past twelve months, but we are very pleased to have gained the creditors’ confidence and have succeeded in reclassifying the majority of our debts to long-term to be repaid over five years. We have also succeeded in positioning the company in a situation where we can look forward to the future and focus on our core business – to develop games within the PAYDAY-franchise. Together with all our employees, I look forward to reaching a publishing agreement for PAYDAY during the first half of 2020 via the ongoing dialogues we’re currently in, and to develop the game into a worthy sequel to the series together with a respected partner. Our most important brand has great potential to provide the company with a stable foundation for decades to come. I would like to thank our Administrator Lars Söderkvist and the entire team at WSA Lawfirm for the collaboration. “

A significant majority of the creditors voted in favor of the composition proposal, which today was decided on in Stockholm District Court. All creditors will additionally receive 100% payment for their debts within the framework of the stipulated composition.

Starbreeze with five subsidiaries entered into reconstruction on December 3, 2018 due to shortage of liquidity and it was considered necessary to give the company the time needed to negotiate a long-term financial solution and to implement operational and organizational changes.

During the restructuring period, parts of the business were classified as core business, primarily game development on the PAYDAY brand, and non-core business. Most of the business classified as a non-core business has been divested, discontinued or in other ways found new forms of cooperation with lower risk for Starbreeze. The remaining parts of the non-core business will continue to be processed. The Group has also made significant operational cost savings during the process.

Basically they scrapped and sold everything that is not Payday.
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Payday continuing to provide paydays: https://www.pcgamer.com/starbreeze-is-looking-for-a-publishing-partner-for-payday-3/

Starbreeze is looking for a publishing partner for Payday 3
The renewed focus on its crime caper seems to be paying off.

Payday publisher Starbreeze didn't have a good 2019, following it filing for reconstruction to avoid bankruptcy in December the previous year. It sold off studios, laid off 25 percent of its employees and put most of its eggs in the Payday basket. It's now released its end of year earnings report, and while much of it makes for gloomy reading, there's light at the end of the tunnel for the publisher.

Starbreeze spent the whole year in reconstruction, reorganising the company so it could remain solvent, so during that time it wasn't releasing new games. For the full year, the loss before tax was 452.4 million SEK, which amounts to £32.2 million/$46.9 million, though that's significantly less than the the loss of over a billion SEK reported the prior year.

Payday has become something of a beacon of hope for the struggling company. In October, it announced that Payday 2 was returning to active development and that it was hoping to release Payday 3 in the next few years.

CEO Mikael Nermark said that the new DLC for Payday 2 generated better than expected sales and interest, leading to the highest concurrent player count "in some time." The average player count before Payday 2 went back into active development sat around 10,000, according to Steam Charts, but in November it jumped up to 28,000.

More Payday 2 updates will appear this year, too.

"This is a good sign that confirms the interest in a future release of Payday 3 and lays a stable foundation for continued efforts," Starbreeze will release additional updates to Payday 2 in 2020. As of 3 January, sales will gain further momentum through the increase in Starbreeze’s share of sales via Steam from 70 to 75 percent."

As for the sequel, Starbreeze is currently looking for a publishing partner that can "provide financial stability and possesses the marketing and distribution resources required to power the best possible launch and further development of the product." It's aiming to present a publishing agreement to investors soon, before the end of the first half of 2020.
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
And busted: https://www.pcgamer.com/former-starbreeze-executive-convicted-of-insider-trading/

Former Starbreeze executive convicted of insider trading
Overkill's The Walking Dead continues to haunt Starbreeze.

An unnamed executive at Payday publisher Starbreeze has been convicted of insider trading.

Starbreeze suffered major financial difficulties in late 2018, following the disastrous launch of Overkill's The Walking Dead. The game was panned at launch, resulting in The Walking Dead owner Skybound Entertainment cancelling Starbreeze and Overkill's contract and forcing the game to be removed from sale just four months later. Shortly following the launch of The Walking Dead, Starbreeze's CEO Bo Andersson stepped down.

Following this, Starbreeze announced it would be undergoing a corporate restructure and refocusing its efforts on its most popular series, Payday. Before the restructuring was announced, two executives, including Andersson, were alleged to have sold their shares in the company, leading to a raid by the Swedish police and an investigation into insider trading.

Andersson was later cleared in January 2019 when it emerged he had been forced into selling his shares. The second person, however, has now been convicted and fined. According to the Swedish outlet Dagens Industry, the combined amount of fines and recovered assets adds up to around SEK 700,000, or £58,121.

Starbreeze continues to struggle. In June 2019, a quarter of its staff was laid off as it desperately tried to keep afloat, and in its end-of-year financial report it admitted to losses totally $12 million. Overkill have returned to updating Payday 2 while Starbreeze looks for a partner in publishing the in-development Payday 3.

Shouldn't be too hard to figure out who this is.
 

Latelistener

Arcane
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Messages
2,579
Riddick Escape from Butcher Bay was a brilliant game and technical marvel when it was released.
I say that as someone who's never even bothered watching a single Riddick film.
It was followed by an extremely average/poor & short sequel.
Then the crappy Syndicate game.
...after that I can't say I followed anything they released or even heard of them ever again.
A one hit wonder as far as I'm concerned.
before Riddick there was Enclave, great third-person action game in the vein of Rune and Severance BoD.
Also Knights of the Temple came out after Riddick and was pretty fun. It was short and decent, but the music is just chef's kiss.
i was hyped to play it after Enclave, but then was put off by a steep decline in almost everything, especially level design. Levels declined from Rune-level to almost DMC2 level.
True, but it was still a decent game for a few evenings. I have an impression they've spread themselves too thin at that time -- both Chronicles of Riddick and Knights of the Temple came out in the same year.
People seem to be forgetting Darkness, which was also great, but never came out on PC.
Dark Athena was just an addon. They reworked visuals of the original game and shipped it with Athena, which was nice.

Now, this should probably be renamed into "The Second Fall of Starbreeze", since most of the team responsible for Darkness, Riddick and Enclave left between Dark Athena and Syndicate (the reason why it was shit, plus a lot of mismanagement from EA). There was a big article somewhere about history of Starbreeze and this exodus, but I can't find it, so this will suffice for now: https://www.gameinformer.com/b/feat...09/the-turbulent-history-of-machinegames.aspx

 

zwanzig_zwoelf

Graverobber Foundation
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People seem to be forgetting Darkness, which was also great, but never came out on PC.
The Darkness looks very interesting (and I've heard it's a very good game), but yes, it's not on PC, which makes my chances of enjoying it pretty slim.
 

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