Starbreeze may not survive 2021 if it doesn't find a publisher for Payday 3

The company still hasn't found a publishing partner for Payday 3.

The CEO of troubled Swedish games firm Starbreeze says that the company is "much stronger" than it was 12 months ago, but money problems could still be on the horizon.

In its financial report for 2020, acting chief exec Tobias Sjogren said that the developer and publisher is "thirsting for revenge" after a pretty dismal few years.

"Starbreeze is a much stronger company today than it was one year ago," he told investors.

"We are hugely confident, thirsting for revenge and thrilled to be able to focus to the max on developing our IP with Payday front and center."

At the end of 2018, Starbreeze went into administration, emerging less than a year later in October 2019. The company finished paying off its creditors in the last quarter of 2020 – and it has reduced its losses – but in the same report, the firm warns that further financial difficulties could be coming if Starbreeze doesn't secure more money or a publishing deal for Payday 3.

"Without additional financing, liquidity injections from divestitures or distribution agreements for Payday 3, the company could experience a liquidity shortfall in the fourth quarter of 2021," Starbreeze admits.

"This entails risk that the company will not have sufficient secured funds to guarantee continued operations for the next 12 months."

This is in a section of its financial report called "Risks and uncertainties," in which Starbreeze has to disclose any potential problems to investors, so it's not really known how much of a clear and present danger this is to the company. For what it's worth, the company said more or less the exact same thing in May 2019.

Starbreeze has been hunting for a publisher for Payday 3 for quite some time now, but the company is "confident" in its efforts to secure a partner for the game. In the past, the Swedish firm said that the coronavirus pandemic had impacted some of the discussions it had been having.

Payday 3 likely won't be out until the 2022/23 financial year, either.