Payday 3 “Felt Unfinished” Developers Admit A Year After “Disastrous” Launch

As a gamer who’s been around for quite some years now, I can’t help but feel a pang of nostalgia when it comes to the Payday series. The launch of Payday 3, however, has left me scratching my head more than my old-school controller. It was a disastrous mess, and even after over a year, it still feels unfinished.

Expressing it differently, the release of Payday 3 was far from satisfactory; in fact, it fell short significantly. The game launched with numerous issues that compelled the CEO of Starbreeze to issue a public apology. To add insult to injury, updates intended to address player concerns were consistently delayed.

Currently, it’s been more than a year since its debut, and Starbreeze has acknowledged that the game’s initial launch was a “catastrophe,” as many aspects of the game felt “incomplete” upon release.

In a recent conversation with PCGamesN, Starbreeze community head Almir Listo stated, “When a launch goes awry, such as when our game is unplayable for everyone involved, there’s no escaping the blame.” However, he emphasized that while technical problems should not be used as an excuse, it’s also crucial to acknowledge that we fell short in delivering a satisfying experience as well.

“The game just felt unfinished. It was a bad experience for our players.”

Listo pointed out that creating video games is already challenging, but what makes it even more difficult is producing a game following the success of one that has been popular for a decade.

Andreas and I were members of the Payday 2 development team at that point in time, he noted. Over the past decade, not all team members remained. Recollecting accurate lessons from a ten-year production process can be difficult due to its unique nature; each game project is distinct from another. However, I believe many small aspects accumulated over time.

What Happened With Payday 3’s Launch?

As a dedicated gamer, I’ve come to realize that some issues we’ve encountered were due to us, the developers, not fully understanding and delivering on what you, our amazing community of gamers, truly desired for this game. We should have done better in terms of listening to your feedback and ensuring we met your expectations.

He stated, “Ultimately, it turned out to be a creation that didn’t strike a chord with the audience.” He added, “Perhaps we were overly optimistic following the triumph of Payday 2 and made hasty decisions too soon.

Starbreeze is optimistic that, much like how Cyberpunk 2077 recovered following a suboptimal debut, Payday 3 will also experience a similar resurgence in popularity after being on the market for more than a year and with various updates provided to players by developers.

Penniger explained that it’s important to grasp the essence of the community behind Payday 2’s success and adapt that understanding for a contemporary setting.

Although I haven’t specified when the second version will come out, for me, the game seems to have a multiple personality disorder, striving to be too many things simultaneously. We should concentrate on strengthening its core fantasy element. Each heist ought to feel more suspenseful, open-ended, and rewarding.

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