Payday 3 developer Starbreeze Studios is appealing for understanding as the game’s highly-anticipated first patch faces continued delays.
After a rocky launch marred by server downtime, matchmaking issues, and the contentious online-only requirement, Starbreeze Studios promised fans over 200 quality-of-life improvements in an early October patch. However, the patch’s release has been pushed back multiple times, and players are becoming increasingly frustrated.
Starbreeze’s initial delay announcement mentioned the need for changes that would require another round of console certification. They expressed hope for a mid-October release, stating, “We’re extremely sorry for this, but we’ve chosen to delay today’s planned patch to ensure its stability.”
But now, just as players were expecting the first Payday 3 patch to arrive, Starbreeze has hit the community with yet another delay notice, revealing that the patch is still not ready for release.
Heisters, we’re sorry for the lack of communication regarding the first patch. We have identified some issues that need to be fixed before we can bring it to you, but rest assured that this is the main priority for our teams. https://t.co/IBDPctk0ce
— PAYDAY 3 (@PAYDAYGame) October 16, 2023
The developers apologized for the lack of communication and reassured players that addressing the issues was their top priority.
“We’re spending additional time revamping our patching process to ensure that we can have a steady cadence and momentum with patches going forward,” Starbreeze announced on October 16.
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While the developers remain tight-lipped about the exact release date for the patch, they have committed to several patches and one DLC release by the end of the year. Whether these plans will be affected by the ongoing delays remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, the Payday 3 player base on Steam continues its significant decline, as per Steam Charts data. The game’s Steam player count has plummeted by close to 90% in just one month, with recent numbers showing only about 10% of the peak player base from its launch day.
And interestingly, Payday 2, the game’s predecessor, is experiencing a resurgence in popularity. At the time of writing, Payday 2’s 24-hour peak player count reached 55,426, whereas Payday managed just 6,099 peak players in comparison.
While it’s important to note that Payday 3 is available on PC Game Pass and, therefore, not all players will be captured in the Steam player count, the charts do show an alarming trend for Starbreeze’s latest game.
With declining player count and “mixed” reviews, Starbreeze’s mission to regain the trust of players looks like it could be a challenging one.