Payday 3 was highly anticipated by fans of Starbreeze Studios’ smash hit, Payday 2, but its debut started with a whimper, rather than a bang. Launch week bugs put a damper on PS5 and Xbox players getting their heist fix, and the game hasn’t managed to recover its pre-release momentum. However, there’s a chance for Payday 3 to undergo a redemption arc, as Starbreeze Studios lays out a plan for the future.
In a recent Payday 3 blog post, Starbreeze Studios acknowledges the woes of new and returning heisters. The studio expresses it is “well aware that many of you aren’t satisfied with the game the way it is in its current state.” Though the game has introduced numerous updates and the addition of a ‘Feature Upvote’ page, Starbreeze Studios is now taking extra steps to restore it as one of the best multiplayer games out there.
This begins by assembling a “strike team of veteran developers from the design, community, communication, and production teams with the focus on bringing Payday 3 up to where it will meet your expectations.” At present, this new team is drafting up a plan, in a bid to deliver the “heisting experience” that PS5 and Xbox players were initially expecting.
The specifics of this plan are yet to be detailed in full, but the studio promises to reveal it next month. But what about before then? What about if you’ve any ideas you’d like to see Starbreeze Studios consider? Well, the importance of sharing your thoughts on the game is imperative. Starbreeze Studios is encouraging players, now more than ever, to interact with the Feature Upvote page. Aside from listing your concepts for Payday 3’s gameplay or useful quality-of-life features, upvoting the ideas of other players can also be done while submitting your own.
Players are submitting hundreds of suggestions, but clear outliers are already apparent. Improvements to looting animations, controller inputs, and an offline mode are at the top of the list. Payday 3 launched without the inclusion of offline functionality, and this persists. So, if your internet connection is rocky, or you want to perform a solo heist with AI, you still need a solid internet connection to make that possible.
Despite the obstacles Payday 3 is overcoming, we reckon it is one of the best Xbox Game Pass games you can play. And with some luck, it’ll become one of the best FPS games in your library.