Payday studio working with production company to develop story for film or TV based on the heist shooter
Taking Chains, Dallas, Hoxton, and Wolf to another medium.
Starbreeze's heist shooter, Payday, is to be developed for film or TV.
The company announced this week it is working with Los Angeles-based production company Stockholm Syndrome to translate the game onto screens.
The production company will have an exclusivity period during which time they can represent the Payday IP and work on it with writers and directors, and find a partner to distribute it worldwide.
With an installed base of almost 40 million, the Payday IP is celebrating 12 years since the first game was released. Since then, regular content and chapters in the saga have arrived via a-Service-model.
"We are very pleased to partner with Stockholm Syndrome with the mutual ambition to bring our franchise to new heights and an even broader audience," said Tobias Sjogren, CEO of Starbreeze.
The independent production company is helmed by CEO Greg Lipstone and founder Peter Settman. The company is currently developing television and theatrical projects with buyers in multiple markets, including North America, the UK, and the Nordics.
"It is a milestone on our journey to create IP that expands beyond the realm of games, and Stockholm Syndrome is a great partner and meshes perfectly with our mission to build an even broader and more engaged community.”
“We’ve had the opportunity to work with many different IPs over the years, and Payday has always been on our radar," commented Peter Settman, founder of Stockholm Syndrome. "It has a cinematic quality and narrative that lends itself to a fantastic live-action adaptation.”
Greg Lipstone adds, “The timing couldn’t be more perfect. The appetite for strong gaming IP’s with a highly engaged fan base is bigger than ever before. Just look at the success of The Last of Us, Halo, and The Witcher - all based on well-known games”.
Developed by Overkill Software, the cooperative first-person shooter Payday: The Heist was released in 2011 and published by 505 Games. The follow-up, Payday 2, was released in 2013, followed by the remastered Crimewave Edition in 2015. A web series was produced to help promote Payday 2.
A third game in the series, Payday 3, started development in 2016 and is slated for release this year. Set after the events of the second game, it finds the gang gone legit and separate ways; however, something caused them to reunite and step back into a life of crime.