Payday 3 Getting "lower investment level" forward

Key things

Payday 3 has seen success a year after launch thanks to soaring reviews on Steam.
Even so, Starbreeze plans to invest significantly less in Payday 3 in the second year.
The developer is still confident that it will be able to provide value to players.

Payday 3 just completed its first year, and its developer, Starbreeze Studios, says it feels comfortable investing significantly less in the title in its second year. Despite a shaky start, the game has largely turned around after several rounds of updates and quality of life improvements. Still, the message Payday 3 won't have the same level of attention in the future may be surprising to some fans.

While overall feedback for the game remains mixed, Payout 3'Recent reviews on Steam have been mostly positive, a performance that lasted roughly a year after the title launched in September 2023. Many of the heist simulator's biggest problems seem to be resolved now, or at least less of a concern to its growing player base. It's this level of growth that led Starbreeze to feel safely aloof Payday 3 without having to worry about it hindering the gaming experience.

Payout 3 The number of players will increase

After a rocky start and a dwindling player base, Payday 3 is back in a big way and players are returning to the stealth game in droves.

Quoted by Starbreeze Payday 3in its Q3 quarterly report before saying it can confidently “continue to deliver value to our players with significantly lower levels of investment.” This confidence stems from several promising trends over the past few months. After several updates Payday 3The player base skyrocketed in June 2024. The studio also mentioned that its player growth remained strong even after the title left Xbox Game Pass in September. Now that it looks like the game's biggest problems are behind it, Starbreeze thinks it can sustain this success without pouring in the same amount of resources that were “upscale” in the first year.

Payday 3 has largely recovered from its opening flop

In light of these accomplishments, it's easy to see where Starbreeze is coming from. Since its release, Payday 3 it added free heists, gave players additional skills and items, and launched several DLCs to further expand its content for those willing to pay for it. Many of the initial technical problems are also no longer so prominent. At the same time considering that it took so much time and work to turn around Payday 3 into something people want to play consistently, some fans may feel it's a strange decision to pull out now.

What the smaller investment means in terms of continued support for the game is unclear. Fewer resources pouring into the game could mean slower responses to feedback or less urgency in releasing updates, but Starbreeze didn't offer details in its report. The drop in investment isn't the only big change coming to the game Payday 3The director resigned in September. Such a change could benefit the title in the long run, or it could be a sign that things are still shaky at the studio. For now, it's debatable whether it's the right time to put less into the game, so Starbreeze and its player base will have to see how things go from here.