Today, Starbreeze Studios has announced that an agreement to purchase the full rights to the Payday franchise has been reached with publisher 505 Games for about $30 million in the company’s stock.

The agreement also states that 505 Games is to receive a third of all revenue from the future sales of Payday 3 up to $40 million, which would recoup the development and marketing costs.

This deal will essentially give Starbreeze the full rights to the Payday franchise for any future endeavors, like bringing Payday: The Heist and Payday 2 to mobile devices. Starbreeze will hold on to the full net revenue for any sales of the game dating back to May 1. Sales revenue will continue to be split 50/50 for Payday 2, as 505 Games is still the publishing company behind the massive hit title.

“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.”

Overkill also announced that players will get a community grenade, skills tree, and will make the black market free for everyone.

Watch this video for more stuff relating to this deal.

My Take: Initially when I read the press release, I was over the moon with excitement. Starbreeze could’ve stood to make millions on the Payday franchise. However, with all business deals, this rarely happens. The person you’re splitting from needs some kind of pay, because after all, they did agree to put your game out there into the public eye. Nevertheless, it seems as if Starbreeze is playing a rather long game with this deal, because after that $40 million, 505 Games has nothing to do with Payday 3. So, yes, they’ll make a bunch of money, but less than they could.

Although, looking at sales numbers here, I think Starbreeze will do just fine, considering as of about 2 years ago, the entire Payday franchise has sold over 9 million copies.

Source: Starbreeze