Payday 3 will try to be ‘less dependent’ on online after brutal launch weekend

After a rough weekend of server instability and matchmaking problems, Payday 3 publisher Starbreeze Entertainment has issued a public statement about what went wrong that might just cheer players up a bit. In an apparent attempt to staunch the flow of blood from the near-mortal wounds inflicted by server issues, Starbreeze has done what any right-minded company would do and implied that it was somebody else’s fault.

The statement opens with a blunt admittance of the main issues, stating that “matchmaking infrastructure has not performed as tested and expected,” apparently due to a massive influx of players. This is likely true, as with Payday 3 appearing on Microsoft’s Game Pass service and having recently made a big deal about getting rid of Denuvo, it does make sense that demand would be high. A new version was gradually deployed, but an update made on Sunday “again introduced instability,” according to Starbreeze, and their third-party matchmaking partner is still working on improving and stabilizing Payday 3‘s online systems.

“We are disappointed in the issues our playerbase has faced during our launch weekend, but we are confident in our core product and the quality of Payday 3 – and all available metrics point to it,” said Starbreeze CEO Tobias Sjögren in the statement. “We have a lot of diligent and consistent work ahead of us to regain community trust, but we will work hard to do it.”

Two very interesting parts of the statement hint at big changes in the long term. Starbreeze states that the company will be “evaluating a new partner for matchmaking services,” as they are clearly unhappy with how this launch has rolled out. You can’t blame them either, as Payday 3 currently sits at a Mostly Negative rating on Steam with over 23,000 reviews. Bad news for whoever is currently acting as a partner for the game’s online service, but good news for frustrated bank robbers everywhere.

Of much greater interest to players will be the hint of an offline mode, something the community was clamoring for on social media this weekend, might be on the way. The statement says that the publisher will also be evaluating how to make “Payday 3 less dependent on online services.” Unless they plan on inventing new internet protocols from scratch, that seems to indicate a possible offline option.

This is fantastic news for the player base, as there is nothing more frustrating than online issues keeping you out of your own private games. All weekend, solo players were being forced to load into online servers just to play by themselves and then were not even able to do that due to repeated matchmaking issues.

So, if you were one of the people on the internet politely calling for an offline mode, it looks like Starbreeze may just be listening.

Aidan O’Brien

Aidan’s first ever computer was the ZX Spectrum, and he has loved games ever since. A fan of the grind, he spends too long in anything with loot just looking to stir some dopamine from his withered brain.