Former Electronic Arts executive Adolf Kristjansson is the new chief executive officer of Swedish games firm Starbreeze. 

The company announced the news to investors, saying that he would be replacing interim CEO Mats Juhl who took the position back in May 2024. Kristjansson has worked in the European games industry since 1999 when he was the MD of Tæknival / BT, which was a distributor for EA in Iceland.

Since, he has worked as a regional MD of retailer GAME in Sweden, before moving to Electronic Arts in 2010 where he spent the next 2023, latterly as senior director of global commercial strategy. Since then he has sat on the board of Silverfox and Thunderful Group. 

“I join Starbreeze with great enthusiasm for the company’s current and future projects, not the least the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons title," Kristjansson said. 

"I look forward to continuing the work of expanding the Payday franchise further and building Starbreeze into a true multi-title studio. Most of all, I look forward to working closely with our talented teams and engaging with our passionate player community as we build the next chapter of Starbreeze together." 

Starbreeze chair Jürgen Goeldner added: “On behalf of the board I want to welcome Adolf to Starbreeze and I look forward to a long and fruitful cooperation. I also want to take the opportunity to thank Mats Juhl for his great contribution during his period as interim CEO.