Payday 3
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''Payday 3'' is a 2023
cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...
first-person shooter game developed by
Starbreeze Studios Starbreeze AB is a Swedish video game developer and publisher based in Stockholm. The studios's notable games developed include '' The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay'', ''Payday 2'' and '' Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons''. Founde ...
and published by
Deep Silver Deep Silver is an Austrian video game publisher and a division of Plaion. History Deep Silver was announced in November 2002, with their first release to be '' Anarchy Online: The Notum Wars''. According to Craig McNichol, who ran Koch Medi ...
. The game is a sequel to ''
Payday 2 ''Payday 2'' is a Cooperative video game, cooperative first-person shooter video game developed by Overkill Software and published by 505 Games. The game is a sequel to 2011's ''Payday: The Heist''. It was released in August 2013 for Microsoft Wi ...
'', and is the third installment in the ''Payday'' series. It was released for
PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North ...
,
Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
, and
Xbox Series X/S The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are the fourth generation of consoles in the Xbox series, succeeding the previous generation's Xbox One. Released on November 10, 2020, the higher-end Xbox Series X and lower-end Xbox Series S are part o ...
on 21 September 2023. It received mixed reviews from critics and failed to meet the sales expectations of Starbreeze and
Embracer Group Embracer Group AB (formerly Nordic Games Licensing AB and THQ Nordic AB) is a Swedish video game and media holding company based in Karlstad. The company comprises 8 operative groups: Amplifier Game Invest, CDE Entertainment, Coffee Stain Studi ...
.


Setting

''Payday 3'' 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. The original crew of characters originating from '' Payday: The Heist'' ("Dallas", "Chains", "Wolf", and "Hoxton") return, with 5 other characters, four returning from ''Payday 2'' ("Joy", "Houston", "Clover", "Jacket"), and one new character ("Pearl"), appearing as additional characters. The game takes place mainly in
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
in the 2020s, intended to add more depth to the Payday Gang's crimes with game-changing differences like more advanced surveillance or the rise of
cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency (colloquially crypto) is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. Individual coin ownership record ...
.


Heists

Currently, there are 17 heists in Payday 3. These heists are divided into 3 sections. Core Heists * No Rest For The Wicked * Road Rage * Dirty Ice * Rock The Cradle * Under The Surphaze * Gold And Sharke * 99 Boxes * Touch The Sky Side Hustles * Turbid Station (Remastered from
Payday 2 ''Payday 2'' is a Cooperative video game, cooperative first-person shooter video game developed by Overkill Software and published by 505 Games. The game is a sequel to 2011's ''Payday: The Heist''. It was released in August 2013 for Microsoft Wi ...
) * Cook Off (Remastered from
Payday 2 ''Payday 2'' is a Cooperative video game, cooperative first-person shooter video game developed by Overkill Software and published by 505 Games. The game is a sequel to 2011's ''Payday: The Heist''. It was released in August 2013 for Microsoft Wi ...
) * Diamond District * First World Bank (Remastered from
Payday 2 ''Payday 2'' is a Cooperative video game, cooperative first-person shooter video game developed by Overkill Software and published by 505 Games. The game is a sequel to 2011's ''Payday: The Heist''. It was released in August 2013 for Microsoft Wi ...
) * Party Powder (Paid DLC) The Bad Apple (Year 1 DLC Heists) * Syntax Error * Boys In Blue * Houston Breakout (previously known as Land of The Free) * Fear And Greed In the Dev Update 09 video on the PAYDAY YouTube channel, the mode "Holdout" from
Payday 2 ''Payday 2'' is a Cooperative video game, cooperative first-person shooter video game developed by Overkill Software and published by 505 Games. The game is a sequel to 2011's ''Payday: The Heist''. It was released in August 2013 for Microsoft Wi ...
was accidentally leaked, with Holdout having the heist image of 99 Boxes.


Development

Developer Starbreeze Studios announced in May 2016 that ''Payday 3'' was in development at
Overkill Software Overkill Software is a Swedish video game developer based and founded in Stockholm in 2009 by Ulf Andersson (video game designer), Ulf Andersson, Bo Andersson, the founders and owners of defunct game developer Grin (company), Grin, along with Si ...
, after Starbreeze acquired the rights to the intellectual property from
505 Games 505 Games S.p.A. is an Italian video game publisher based in Milan. It was founded in 2006 as a subsidiary of Milan-based Digital Bros. History 505 Games was founded in 2006 in Milan as a subsidiary of Digital Bros. The company found its earl ...
for around . In March 2021,
Plaion Plaion GmbH (formerly Koch Media) is an Austrian media company headquartered in Höfen, Tyrol, with an additional office in Planegg, Germany. It was founded in 1994 by Franz Koch and Klemens Kundratitz. The company operates video game publishi ...
committed to pay to assist in the game's development and marketing, including more than 18 months of post-launch support using the
games as a service In the video game industry, a live service game (also referred to as games as a service, abbrevated to GaaS) represents providing video games or game content on a continuing revenue model, similar to software as a service. Live service games are ...
model. ''Payday 3'' was developed using
Unreal Engine 4 Unreal Engine 4 (UE4) is the fourth version of Unreal Engine developed by Epic Games. UE4 began development in 2003 and was released in March 2014, with the first game using UE4 being released in April 2014. UE4 introduced support for Physically ...
, but will be upgraded to use
Unreal Engine 5 Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) is the latest version of Unreal Engine developed by Epic Games. It was revealed in May 2020 and officially released in April 2022. Unreal Engine 5 includes multiple upgrades and new features, including Nanite, a system that ...
post launch. 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. 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.


Reception


Critical response

''Payday 3'' received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
. In Japan, four critics from ''
Famitsu , formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...
'' gave the game a total score of 30 out of 40. Vikki Blake, writing for ''
Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 alongside parent company Gamer Network. In 2008, it started in the formerly eponymous trade fair EGX (Eurogamer Expo until 2013) organised by its parent company. Fr ...
'', called it "a shallow shooter that doesn't offer anywhere near enough bang for your ill-gotten buck." Travis Northup, writing for ''
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
'', wrote that "''Payday 3'' cooperative heists are off to a strong start, even if the vault is a bit bare at the moment." Giovanni Colantonio, in a review for ''
Digital Trends Digital Trends is a Portland, Oregon-based tech news, lifestyle, and information website that publishes news, reviews, guides, how-to articles, descriptive videos and podcasts about technology and consumer electronics products. With offices in P ...
'', 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."


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. Starbreeze announced that the game had attracted more than 1.3 million players at launch.


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. One month after launch, the player base on
Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...
plummeted, with ''Payday 2'' having 10 times more concurrent players than ''Payday 3''. In November 2023,
Embracer Group Embracer Group AB (formerly Nordic Games Licensing AB and THQ Nordic AB) is a Swedish video game and media holding company based in Karlstad. The company comprises 8 operative groups: Amplifier Game Invest, CDE Entertainment, Coffee Stain Studi ...
(owner of Deep Silver) said that ''Payday 3'' had failed to meet their sales expectations. In February 2024, Starbreeze said that the game's sales and player activity were way below expectations. In March 2024, Starbreeze fired CEO Tobias Sjögren and replaced him with Juergen Goeldner as interim CEO. On May 15 2024, Mats Juhl replaced Juergen Goeldner to become acting CEO of Starbreeze. 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. On a 'Heist with Almir' stream in November 2024, Mats Juhl (Starbreeze's CFO and acting CEO) said that "so far, the game ayday 3hasn't made any profits". On March 31 2025, Adolf Kristjansson was appointed as the new CEO of Starbreeze and assumed his position on April 1 2025. In May 2025, Starbreeze announced it had acquired publishing rights from Plaion.


References


External links

* {{Starbreeze Fiction about bank robbery Cooperative video games First-person shooter multiplayer online games First-person shooters Multiplayer and single-player video games Multiplayer online games Organized crime video games Plaion PlayStation 5 games Stealth video games Unreal Engine 4 games 2023 video games Video game sequels Video games developed in Sweden Video games set in New York City Windows games Xbox Series X and Series S games