 After the release of Escape from Butcher Bay , Starbreeze again encountered financial difficulties after having not received a significant royalty payment from Vivendi . It sold part of its motion capture and animation department to a British company , <unk> . However , the game helped set Starbreeze 's reputation as a studio capable of making good licensed titles . With the help of Union Entertainment , an intermediary company , Starbreeze signed an agreement with Majesco Entertainment for a new title set within the The Darkness universe owned by Top Cow Comics on July 16 , 2004 . Mid @-@ way through the game 's development , Majesco underwent restructuring because of financial difficulties , shifted its focus , and dropped the game . 2K Games stepped up and acquired the publishing rights . 2K extended the game 's development cycle , and asked Starbreeze to develop a multiplayer mode for the game . The Darkness was released in 2007 . It fared worse than the team expected critically , but its commercial performance was satisfactory , selling more than 1 million copies worldwide . 
