Payday 3

Payday 3
Developer(s)Starbreeze Studios
Publisher(s)Deep Silver
Composer(s)Gustavo Coutinho
EngineUnreal Engine 4
Platform(s)
Release21 September 2023
Genre(s)First-person shooter
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Payday 3 is a cooperative first-person shooter game developed by Starbreeze Studios and published by Deep Silver. The game is a sequel to Payday 2, and is the third installment in the Payday series. It was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on 21 September 2023. It received mixed reviews from critics and failed to meet the sales expectations of Embracer Group and Starbreeze.

Setting

Payday 3 takes place after the ending of Payday 2 where the Payday Gang went separate ways and left their criminal lives, but being double-crossed and losing all of their money causes the Payday Gang to return to the life of crime.[1] The original crew of characters originating from Payday: The Heist ("Dallas", "Chains", "Wolf", and "Hoxton") return, with 4 other characters, three returning from Payday 2 ("Joy", "Houston", "Clover"), and one new character ("Pearl"), appearing as additional characters. The game takes place mainly in New York in the 2020s,[1][2] intended to add more depth to the Payday Gang's crimes with game-changing differences like more advanced surveillance or the rise of cryptocurrency.[1][2]

Heists

Currently, there are 15 heists in Payday 3. These heists are divided into 3 sections.

Core Heists

  • No Rest For The Wicked
  • Road Rage
  • Dirty Ice
  • Rock The Cradle
  • Under The Surphaze
  • Gold And Sharke
  • 99 Boxes
  • Touch The Sky

Side Hustles

  • Turbid Station
  • Cook Off
  • Diamond District

The Bad Apple (DLC Heists)

  • Syntax Error
  • Boys In Blue
  • Houston Breakout (previously known as Land of The Free)
  • Fear And Greed

In the Dev Update 09 video on the PAYDAY YouTube channel, the heists First World Bank and Holdout were accidentally leaked, with Holdout having the heist image of 99 Boxes.[3] This leak also makes First World Bank the first heist to appear in every PAYDAY game.

Development

Developer Starbreeze Studios announced in May 2016 that Payday 3 was in development at Overkill Software, after Starbreeze acquired the rights to the intellectual property from 505 Games for around US$30 million.[4] In March 2021, Plaion committed to pay €50 million to assist in the game's development and marketing, including more than 18 months of post-launch support using the games as a service model.[5] Payday 3 was developed using Unreal Engine 4, but will be upgraded to use Unreal Engine 5 post launch.[2][6] On January 1, 2023, a teaser trailer titled A New Criminal Dawn was released, revealing its logo. Console versions are also the same version as the game on PC platforms, unlike its predecessor. Overkill states that this is due to the game being created using the Unreal Engine.[7] In June, Overkill announced that the game would release on September 18, 2023 for people who had pre-ordered the Silver and Gold editions, while the standard edition would release on September 21.[8]

Reception

Critical response

Payday 3 received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic.[9][10][11]

Vikki Blake, writing for Eurogamer, called it "a shallow shooter that doesn't offer anywhere near enough bang for your ill-gotten buck."[13] Travis Northup, writing for IGN, wrote that "Payday 3's cooperative heists are off to a strong start, even if the vault is a bit bare at the moment."[14] Giovanni Colantonio, in a review for Digital Trends, said that "Payday 3 doesn't shake up its predecessor's formula much, but a strong batch of initial heists sets the live service shooter up for success."[12]

Launch

Upon launch, the game's servers failed due to the massive influx of players, making the game almost unplayable, since the game is online-only. The outages lasted for days.[15][16] Starbreeze announced that the game had attracted more than 1.3 million players at launch.[17]

Sales

Payday 3 became the fifth and the sixth best-selling video game in the United States and the United Kingdom respectively in September 2023.[18][19]

One month after launch, the player base on Steam plummeted, with Payday 2 having 10 times more concurrent players than Payday 3.[20]

In November 2023, Embracer Group (owner of Deep Silver) said that Payday 3 had failed to meet their sales expectations.[21]

In February 2024, Starbreeze said that the game's sales and player activity were way below expectations.[22][23] In March 2024, Starbreeze fired CEO Tobias Sjögren and replaced him with Juergen Goeldner as interim CEO.[24] On May 15 2024, Mats Juhl replaced Juergen Goeldner to become acting CEO of Starbreeze.[25] In September 2024, it was announced that game director Miodrag Kovačevićas had been removed from his role in preparation for the game's second year, with Andreas Häll Penninger (lead producer on Payday 3) and Almir Listo (Starbreeze's Global Brand Director) becoming interim game directors.[26]

On a 'Heist with Almir' stream in November 2024, Mats Juhl (Starbreeze's CFO and acting CEO) said that "so far, the game [Payday 3] hasn't made any profits".[27]

References

  1. ^ a b c Yin-Poole, Wesley (October 23, 2021). "Payday 3 is set in New York, features the original gang". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on March 21, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c Knoop, Joseph (October 25, 2021). "Payday 3 Will Be Set in a 'Living, Enormous' New York City". IGN. Archived from the original on October 12, 2022. Retrieved March 21, 2022.
  3. ^ PAYDAY 3 (October 23, 2024). PAYDAY 3: Dev Update 09. Retrieved November 21, 2024 – via YouTube.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Makuch, Eddie (May 31, 2016). "Payday 3 Confirmed, Microtransactions Eliminated as Starbreeze Buys Franchise Rights". GameSpot. Archived from the original on September 22, 2022. Retrieved May 24, 2022.
  5. ^ Makuch, Eddie (March 19, 2021). "Payday 3 Is Coming In 2023, New Image Released". GameSpot. Archived from the original on May 16, 2022. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
  6. ^ "PAYDAY 3: Frequently Asked Questions". PAYDAY Official Site. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
  7. ^ Wright, Steven T. (January 3, 2023). "Payday 3 Is "Same Game" On Console And PC". GameSpot. Fandom, Inc. Archived from the original on January 4, 2023. Retrieved January 15, 2023.
  8. ^ Morbhatt, Muskan (June 11, 2023). "Payday 3: Release Date, Gameplay, and Exciting Features Unveiled". OtakuZasshi. Archived from the original on June 11, 2023. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
  9. ^ a b "Payday 3 PC Critic Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
  10. ^ a b "Payday 3 PlayStation 5 Critic Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
  11. ^ a b "Payday 3 Xbox Series X Critic Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
  12. ^ a b Colantonio, Giovanni (September 21, 2023). "Payday 3 review: the plan is set. Now comes the hard part". Digital Trends. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
  13. ^ a b Blake, Vikki (October 6, 2023). "Payday 3 review - furiously good fun, if criminally unadventurous". Eurogamer. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
  14. ^ a b Northup, Travis (September 19, 2023). "Payday 3 Review". IGN. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
  15. ^ Blake, Vikki (September 23, 2023). "Payday 3 players endure second consecutive day of server issues, preventing them from playing". Eurogamer. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
  16. ^ Wood, Austin (September 26, 2023). "Payday 3 offline mode under consideration as launch disaster continues: "Everything is on the table for us right now"". GamesRadar+. Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  17. ^ Carter, Justin (September 26, 2023). "Payday 3 smashes and grabs 1.3 million players in opening weekend". Game Developer. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  18. ^ Dring, Christopher (October 20, 2023). "Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo console sales jumped 44% in September". Gameindustry.biz. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  19. ^ Kaser, Rachel (October 19, 2023). "Starfield rockets past Mortal Kombat 1 to top spot". VentureBeat. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  20. ^ Ngan, Niv (October 25, 2023). "Payday 3 Steam player count flagging as fans await first patch". Eurogamer. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  21. ^ Ivan, Tom (November 16, 2023). "Embracer says Payday 3 underperformed following launch issues". VGC. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  22. ^ Smith, Graham (February 15, 2024). "Payday 3 sales "significantly lower" than hoped, but Starbreeze focused on "long-term success"". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  23. ^ Kerr, Chris. "Starbreeze admits Payday 3 is massively underperforming". gamedeveloper.com. Retrieved February 15, 2024.
  24. ^ Kerr, Chris (March 12, 2024). "Starbreeze ousts CEO Tobias Sjögren with Payday 3 in dire straits". gamedeveloper.com. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  25. ^ "PM – Starbreeze". corporate.starbreeze.com. Retrieved November 23, 2024.
  26. ^ Wales, Matt (September 11, 2024). "Payday 3 gets new creative leads as player numbers remain dwarfed by decade-old predecessor". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
  27. ^ PAYDAYTheGame - Payday 3 has not made any profits. November 21, 2024. Retrieved November 21, 2024 – via www.twitch.tv.