Starbreeze is looking to reduce costs and refocus on its core business after Overkill's The Walking Dead failed to meet sales expectations.

The developer-publisher revealed the co-op shooter has only been selling well in low-price markers like China and Russia, while struggling elsewhere.

As a result, Starbreeze now expects fourth-quarter earnings to fall short of expectations, and has initiated a program to "reduce costs and sharpen focus on core business -- internal and external development."

It's unclear whether this means the company will be scaling back its publishing operations to focus on making games, though it raises some questions about the future of upcoming Starbreeze-published titles like System Shock 3 and Psychonauts 2.

"We have initiated a review of our costs to ensure better alignment with our revenues," commented Starbreeze CFO, Sebastian Ahlskog.

"We are designing a program towards that end, naturally while keeping a careful eye on revenue development. We must focus on our core business and ensure delivery of the company’s important games."

In scaling down, Starbreeze hopes to generate significant cost savings during the next fiscal year in "non-core businesses." The company's long-term target of positive full-year earnings for 2019 has also been disregarded.