Starbreeze doubled revenue in Q1 on Dead by Daylight sale

Starbreeze significantly narrowed its losses in Q1, and boosted its quarterly revenue to its highest ever level.

In the first quarter of the calendar year, the Swedish publisher earned SEK 110 million ($12.5 million), a 92 per cent increase over the prior year. It also managed to reduce its losses significantly, from a pre-tax loss of SEK 56.2 million ($6.4m) last year to just SEK 6.4 million ($700k) in Q1 2018.

Dead by Daylight was by far the most significant contributor of revenue, accounting for SEK 62 million of the total earned - versus the SEK 25 million contributed by the company's previous breadwinner, Payday.

However, Starbreeze decided to sell the publishing rights for Dead by Daylight back to its creator, Behaviour Interactive, for $16 million back in March. In a note to investors, CEO Bo Andersson Klint admitted that the deal might seem "contradictory", but Starbreeze expects to earn more profit from the sale than it forecast from the, "game's remaining lifetime."

Klint said that Starbreeze will also have more money to invest in new publishing deals, such as the $7.7 million it has invested in Mohawk Games' strategy title Ten Crowns. It also signed a deal for Inked, a game from the Croatian developer Somnium Games.

The company's main focus remains Overkill's The Walking Dead, which promises to become the prime revenue generator that Payday used to be, and that Dead by Daylight is at present. Starbreeze will be showing gameplay at this year's E3, Klint said.

In the meantime, the company has been raising money through a directed share issue and an oversubscribed rights issue. Collectively, the two issues raised SEK 390 million ($44 million).