According to a corporate press release today, the board of Starbreeze officially appointed Mats Juhl as the new interim CEO. They replace Jürgen Goeldner, “who has been nominated as Chairman of the board to the Annual General Meeting.”
Starbreeze, best known for its work on the Payday series, fired its CEO Tobias Sjögren in March 2024. Starbreeze chairman Torgny Hellström stated that “the execution of strategy needs a different leadership.”
The decision followed a rough launch for the series. It took weeks for Starbreeze to finally introduce a crucial patch for serious issues that players experienced at launch.
In February 2024, Starbreeze released a report admitting that Payday 3 underperformed. A statement explained that “Payday 3’s sales and player activity are currently at significantly lower levels than we would like.”
The new interim CEO Mats Juhl has served as the CFO at Starbreeze since 2020. Today’s press release adds that they previously held senior positions at a variety of places.
As an interim CEO, Juhl will only have the role “until a permanent replacement is presented.” At this time, Starbreeze did not confirm exactly why Mats Juhl is taking on the new role. The board said it will continue a “close collaboration” with Juhl during the transition period.
Starbreeze is currently working on a new Dungeons & Dragons live service game, expected to release sometime in 2026.
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