In a rather unexpected press release, Starbreeze announced yesterday that it acquired the rights to the PAYDAY franchise back; the press release also indirectly confirms a new PAYDAY 3 installment, though don't expect it any time soon.

　　The transaction, which amounts to approximately $30 million, will allow Starbreeze to to own the full rights for any future developments or commercialization, including PAYDAY 2 and PAYDAY for mobile platforms. The Swedish company will also retain full net revenue from Steam's PAYDAY 2, starting retroactively from May 1, 2016, while it will continue to split revenue of PAYDAY 2: Crimewave Edition (the console edition of the game) with 505 Games.

　　505 Games will also retain a 33% revenue share from future of sales of PAYDAY 3, capped at $40 million and after Starbreeze will have fully recouped development & marketing costs. Starbreeze's assessment is that this is a sound investment both in the short and long term, with the transaction price of $30 million expected to be matched by corresponding franchise revenues until PAYDAY 3 is released in the future.

　　Bo Andersson Klint, Starbreeze CEO, said:

　　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. 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.

　　Starbreeze's upcoming projects include the John Wick VR shooter and OVERKILL's survival co-op FPS The Walking Dead, with the latter expected to release in 2017. We should hear about both of them between E3 and Gamescom 2016; stay tuned on Wccftech for any new information.