Starbreeze CEO Tobias Sjögren is stepping down. The move comes just six months after the debacle of the struggling heist shooter "Payday 3."

Sjögren became acting CEO of Starbreeze in October 2020 following the resignation of then-CEO Mikael Nermark, and was permanently appointed to the position in March 2021. three years later, he abruptly stepped down, although the specific reasons for his departure were not disclosed. Three years later, he abruptly stepped down, although the specific reasons for his departure have not been disclosed, and it appears that Starbreeze's board was not satisfied with the way things had been going. [Starbreeze Chairman Torgny Hellström said in a press release (via Game Developer), "We have a clear strategy centered on creating compelling games using our own and licensed IP.

"The Board's collective assessment is that we need different leadership to execute our strategy.

Hellström thanked Sjögren "for his work over the past three years" and of course wished him well in his future endeavors.

There was no mention of "Payday 3" anywhere in the announcement, but yes, it was "Payday 3." The launch of the long-awaited successor to the 10-year-old "Payday 2" was one of the biggest flops we have seen in years: due to deep-seated technical problems and late fixes,

Sjogren admitted in February that "Payday 3 sales and player activity are currently at a much lower level than we would like," and the numbers speak for themselves: according to Steam Charts, Payday 3's peak concurrent player count in the past 24 hours was was only 353, compared to more than 31,000 for Payday 2. An effort to turn things around was announced in February, but it was clearly too little, too late to save his job.

Starbreeze is currently searching for a new CEO, and in the meantime, Juergen Goeldner, former CEO of Focus Home Interactive and current member of the Starbreeze board, will fill the role.