Universal Games and Digital Platforms Collaborates with Starbreeze on New PAYDAY Mobile Game
Popular Adrenaline-Fueled Heist Franchise Expected to Debut on Mobile Devices in 2019
Universal City, Calif., Stockholm, Sweden, Feb. 5, 2019 – Universal Games and Digital Platforms today announced that it will collaborate with independent creator, publisher and distributor of games, Starbreeze, to publish the upcoming mobile game, PAYDAY: Crime War. Universal will handle all publishing and marketing of the game, as well as contribute its expertise around mobile free-to-play and games-as-a-service best practices, while Starbreeze will develop the game and provide oversight to ensure authenticity with the PAYDAY franchise.
Universal and Starbreeze have a 15-year relationship going back to the critically acclaimed The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bayin 2004, and most recently partnered onThe Mummy Prodigium Strike VR location-based game in 2017. Starbreeze is part of a growing list of talented development and publishing partners that Universal Games and Digital Platforms is working with since announcing in 2017 that it would take a more active role in the development, marketing and distribution of games based on NBCUniversal properties and select, original game properties. PAYDAY: Crime War will be one of the organization’s first published mobile games to be released this year, with more to come throughout the year.
“We’ve spent nearly two years building a trusted games team with proven expertise in all aspects of mobile game publishing,” said Chris Heatherly, Executive Vice President of Games and Digital Platforms, Universal Brand Development. “With the addition of PAYDAY to our game slate, we can help Starbreeze bring a fresh, new experience to PAYDAY fans on mobile, the largest gaming platform in the world.”
“Universal has a clear and high-quality vision for PAYDAY: Crime War, which stays true to what fans have come to expect from the intense, ground-breaking franchise,” said Mikael Nermark, Acting CEO, Starbreeze. “We are confident that they will be instrumental in guiding us to a successful global launch of the next chapter in the PAYDAY universe.”
More details about the game will be announced in the coming months. For more information, please visit https://www.paydaycrimewar.com.
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Media Contact:
Sunny Antonio
Universal Games and Digital Platforms
818-255-6496
Sunny.antonio@nbcuni.com
About Universal Games and Digital Platforms
Universal’s Games and Digital Platforms group leverages the vast portfolio of IP and characters from NBCUniversal. The Games and Digital Platforms group is a business unit of Universal Brand Development, which is chartered with globally expanding the company's intellectual properties, franchises, characters and stories through innovative physical and digital products, content and consumer experiences. The company's extensive portfolio includes properties created by Universal Pictures, Illumination Entertainment, DreamWorks Animation, and NBCUniversal cable and television. Universal Brand Development (www.universalbranddevelopment.com) is a business segment of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, and part of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation.
About Starbreeze
Starbreeze is an independent developer, creator, Publisher and Distributor of PC and console games aimed at the global market, with studios in Stockholm, Barcelona, Bangalore and Dehradun. Housing the smash hit IP PAYDAY, Starbreeze develops games based on proprietary and third-party rights, both in-house and in partnership with external game developers. Starbreeze shares are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm under the tickers STAR A and STAR B with the ISIN-codes SE0007158928 (A share) and SE0005992831 (B share). Starbreeze announced via a press release on December 3, 2018 that the company, including certain subsidiaries, entered into reconstruction. For more information, please visit starbreeze.com