The release of the online shooter Overkill’s The Walking Dead on PC was a disaster for publisher Starbreeze. The fired CEO of the studio subsequently blamed the developers, who, according to him, did not work carefully enough.
What happened? On November 6, 2018, the PC version of the online shooter Overkill’s The Walking Dead was released. However, both players and the press were unimpressed with the title.
Bugs and poor optimization ruined the gaming experience for many. The release version felt like an unfinished budget game, receiving harsh criticism and low ratings.
As can be seen from Steamcharts, the player numbers continue to decline. Sales figures were well below expectations, as publisher Starbreeze itself admitted.
A release of Overkill’s The Walking Dead for PS4 and Xbox One has been postponed multiple times. Some doubt whether the game will even come out.
What consequences did the publisher draw from it? The launch of Overkill’s The Walking Dead was so disastrous that Bo Andersson, CEO of Starbreeze, had to leave the company.
The console version of the game was postponed indefinitely, and Starbreeze’s stock plummeted. Finally, there was even a raid at the company due to suspicions of insider trading.
This is all the more surprising because Starbreeze had been considered a huge success for years. The Swedish studio had a megaseller with Payday 2 and had been on a spending spree in recent years, spending millions – however, the money was apparently not wisely invested, as a major insider report from Eurogamer shows.
An unprofessional reaction
How did the dismissed CEO react? According to Eurogamer, Bo Andersson wrote a farewell email to the staff.
In this email, he writes that he is going through a divorce and has lost all his money and custody of his children because he spent the last two to three years working 100-hour weeks to ensure that the developers could be paid. However, he believes that fewer and fewer employees place value on care, which affects the quality that can be achieved in a given time. He wrote that he should have reacted to this situation.
In other words, Bo Andersson believes that the developers of Overkill’s The Walking Dead did not work carefully enough, and that is why the game is a failure. This impression is confirmed by employees of Starbreeze who were interviewed anonymously by Eurogamer.
What the employees say: The employees who were harshly criticized feel mocked, as there was a months-long intense crunch time leading up to development with some 100-hour weeks.
Midway through development, the engine had to be changed. The developers were not familiar with the Unreal Engine. All of this led to delays and the crunch time described by employees. That it is now presented as if the team did not show enough commitment is a harsh blow.
What does the new CEO say about it? In the meantime, Mikael Nermark runs the business. He reacted to the letter from his predecessor and stated that the entire team worked very hard on the game. The work ethic of the employees is very high, and when necessary, individuals were asked if they would work overtime. They consciously wanted to avoid regular crunch time.
“I personally appreciate and respect the hard work that all our employees have put into all our projects,” he says. “We will carefully ensure that everyone has the space to create great games that are based on their respective expertise – with clear goals set for individuals that align with our future overall strategy.”
How things will proceed with Starbreeze remains to be seen. Many players are concerned about the future of the company and the games that are to be published through the publisher, including the highly anticipated action RPG System Shock 3.
