Software:Payday 3

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Short description: 2023 video game

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 2023 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.

The game 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 Software:Payday: The Heist ("Dallas", "Chains", "Wolf", and "Hoxton") return, with five other characters, four returning from Payday 2 ("Joy", "Houston", "Clover", "Jacket"), and one new character ("Pearl"), appearing as playable characters. It takes place mainly in New York and its surroundings 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]

The game received mixed reviews from critics and failed to meet the sales expectations of Starbreeze and Embracer Group.[3]

Plot

Payday 3 follows the events of Payday 2. The gang is forced out of retirement by a conspiracy plot aimed at its members, including an assasination attempt and the freezing of their assets. The new Crime.net operator, Shade, who managed to contact only five members of the crew, helps them to track down the perpetrators and locate the surviving members of the gang, while providing them jobs in and around New York City, including a bank, armored transport and a jewelry store. Through Shade, the crew also meets Pearl, an experienced con artist, who joins the Payday gang.

Heists

Currently, there are 21 heists in Payday 3. These heists are divided into 4 sections.

Core Heists

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

Side Hustles

  • "Turbid Station" (Remastered from Payday 2)
  • "Cook Off" (Remastered from Payday 2)
  • "Diamond District"
  • "First World Bank" (Remastered from Software:Payday: The Heist)
  • "Party Powder"
  • "Delivery Charge"
  • "Shopping Spree"

Smash & Grab

  • "Bank Withdrawal"
  • "Search And Seizure"

The Bad Apple

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

Since "First World Bank" was added to Payday 3, it is the only heist to appear in all three Payday games.

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

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
MetacriticPC: 66/100[9]
PS5: 61/100[10]
XBOX: 67/100[11]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Eurogamer3/5[13]
Famitsu30/40[14]
IGN7/10[15]

Payday 3 received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic.[9][10][11] In Japan, four critics from Famitsu gave the game a total score of 30 out of 40.[14]

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."[15] 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.[16][17] Starbreeze announced that the game had attracted more than 1.3 million players at launch.[18]

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.[19][20]

One month after launch, the player base on Steam plummeted, with Payday 2 having 10 times more concurrent players than Payday 3 on said distribution platform.[21]

In November 2023, Embracer Group (owner of Deep Silver) said that Payday 3 had failed to meet their sales expectations.[22]

In February 2024, Starbreeze said that the game's sales and player activity were way below expectations.[23][24] In March 2024, Starbreeze fired CEO Tobias Sjögren and replaced him with Juergen Goeldner as interim CEO.[25] On May 15 2024, Mats Juhl replaced Juergen Goeldner to become acting CEO of Starbreeze.[26] 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.[27]

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".[28]

On March 31 2025, Adolf Kristjansson was appointed as the new CEO of Starbreeze and assumed his position on April 1 2025.[29]

In May 2025, Starbreeze announced it had acquired publishing rights from Plaion.[30]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Yin-Poole, Wesley (2021-10-23). "Payday 3 is set in New York, features the original gang" (in en). https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-10-23-payday-3-is-set-in-new-york-and-features-software-giants-crypto-currencies-and-the-dark-web. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Knoop, Joseph (2021-10-25). "Payday 3 Will Be Set in a 'Living, Enormous' New York City" (in en). https://www.ign.com/articles/payday-3-new-york. 
  3. ↑ Bari, Muhammad Ali (2023-11-16). "Payday 3 Sales Fell Below Embracer's Expectations Due To Online Matchmaking Issues" (in en-US). https://twistedvoxel.com/payday-3-sales-below-expectations-matchmaking-issues/. 
  4. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (May 31, 2016). "Payday 3 Confirmed, Microtransactions Eliminated as Starbreeze Buys Franchise Rights". GameSpot. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/payday-3-confirmed-microtransactions-eliminated-as/1100-6440324/. Retrieved May 24, 2022. 
  5. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (March 19, 2021). "Payday 3 Is Coming In 2023, New Image Released". GameSpot. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/payday-3-is-coming-in-2023-new-image-released/1100-6489060/. Retrieved May 22, 2022. 
  6. ↑ "PAYDAY 3: Frequently Asked Questions" (in en-US). https://www.paydaythegame.com/payday3/faq/. 
  7. ↑ Wright, Steven T. (January 3, 2023). "Payday 3 Is "Same Game" On Console And PC" (in en-US). Fandom, Inc.. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/payday-3-is-same-game-on-console-and-pc/1100-6510261/. 
  8. ↑ Morbhatt, Muskan (2023-06-11). "Payday 3: Release Date, Gameplay, and Exciting Features Unveiled". https://otakuzasshi.com/gaming/payday-3-release-date-gameplay-and-exciting-features-unveiled/. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Payday 3 PC Critic Reviews". https://www.metacritic.com/game/payday-3/critic-reviews/?platform=pc. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Payday 3 PlayStation 5 Critic Reviews". https://www.metacritic.com/game/payday-3/critic-reviews/?platform=playstation-5. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Payday 3 Xbox Series X Critic Reviews". https://www.metacritic.com/game/payday-3/critic-reviews/?platform=xbox-series-x. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Colantonio, Giovanni (September 21, 2023). "Payday 3 review: the plan is set. Now comes the hard part". https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/payday-3-review-xbox-series-x/. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Blake, Vikki (October 6, 2023). "Payday 3 review - furiously good fun, if criminally unadventurous". https://www.eurogamer.net/payday-3-review. 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Romano, Sal (October 11, 2023). "Famitsu Review Scores: Issue 1819". https://www.gematsu.com/2023/10/famitsu-review-scores-issue-1819. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Northup, Travis (September 19, 2023). "Payday 3 Review". https://www.ign.com/articles/payday-3-review. 
  16. ↑ Blake, Vikki (2023-09-23). "Payday 3 players endure second consecutive day of server issues, preventing them from playing" (in en). Eurogamer. https://www.eurogamer.net/payday-3-players-endure-second-consecutive-day-of-server-issues-preventing-them-from-playing. 
  17. ↑ Wood, Austin (2023-09-26). "Payday 3 offline mode under consideration as launch disaster continues: "Everything is on the table for us right now"" (in en). GamesRadar+. https://www.gamesradar.com/payday-3-dev-defends-always-online-setup-as-server-issues-continue-says-we-have-not-confirmed-an-offline-mode-but-were-evaluating-every-possibility. 
  18. ↑ Carter, Justin (September 26, 2023). "Payday 3 smashes and grabs 1.3 million players in opening weekend". Game Developer. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/-i-payday-3-i-smashes-and-grabs-1-3-million-players-in-opening-weekend. Retrieved October 29, 2023. 
  19. ↑ Dring, Christopher (October 20, 2023). "Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo console sales jumped 44% in September". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/xbox-playstation-and-nintendo-console-sales-jumped-44-in-september-uk-monthly-charts. 
  20. ↑ Kaser, Rachel (October 19, 2023). "Starfield rockets past Mortal Kombat 1 to top spot". https://venturebeat.com/games/starfield-rockets-past-mortal-kombat-1-to-top-spot-circana-september-2023/. 
  21. ↑ Ngan, Niv (October 25, 2023). "Payday 3 Steam player count flagging as fans await first patch". https://www.eurogamer.net/payday-3-steam-player-count-flagging-as-fans-await-first-patch. 
  22. ↑ Ivan, Tom (2023-11-16). "Embracer says Payday 3 underperformed following launch issues" (in en-GB). https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/embracer-says-payday-3-underperformed-following-launch-issues/. 
  23. ↑ Smith, Graham (February 15, 2024). "Payday 3 sales "significantly lower" than hoped, but Starbreeze focused on "long-term success"". https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/payday-3-sales-significantly-lower-than-hoped-but-starbreeze-focused-on-long-term-success. 
  24. ↑ Kerr, Chris. "Starbreeze admits Payday 3 is massively underperforming" (in en). https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/starbreeze-admits-payday-3-is-massively-underperforming. 
  25. ↑ Kerr, Chris (March 12, 2024). "Starbreeze ousts CEO Tobias Sjögren with Payday 3 in dire straits" (in en). https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/starbreeze-ousts-ceo-tobias-sj-gren-with-payday-3-in-dire-straits. 
  26. ↑ "PM – Starbreeze" (in en). https://corporate.starbreeze.com/en/press/press-releases/starbreeze-ab-appoints-a-new-interim-ceo-a44fdf79/. 
  27. ↑ Wales, Matt (2024-09-11). "Payday 3 gets new creative leads as player numbers remain dwarfed by decade-old predecessor" (in en). https://www.eurogamer.net/payday-3-gets-new-creative-leads-as-player-numbers-still-dwarfed-by-decade-old-predecessor. 
  28. ↑ PAYDAYTheGame - Payday 3 has not made any profits. November 21, 2024. Retrieved November 21, 2024 – via www.twitch.tv.
  29. ↑ "PM – Starbreeze" (in en). https://corporate.starbreeze.com/en/press/press-releases/. 
  30. ↑ Chalk, Andy (2025-05-06). "Starbreeze reclaims Payday 3 publishing rights from Plaion, says it will 'significantly accelerate our content development roadmap'" (in en). PC Gamer. https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/starbreeze-reclaims-payday-3-publishing-rights-from-plaion-says-it-will-significantly-accelerate-our-content-development-roadmap/. 

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