It’s just over four months since the Payday 3 Steam launch, but the Starbreeze FPS sequel is seriously struggling to maintain a player base. A variety of technical problems, many of them in relation to Payday 3’s always-online requirement, meant the shooter was received coolly at launch – to this day, it still holds a middling ‘mixed’ rating on Valve’s storefront. Now, the Payday 3 Steam player count has dipped below 250. While it’s also available on Game Pass, the diminishing turnout for the Payday 2 sequel is a concerning sign, as Starbreeze announces drastic new measures to try and bring Payday 3 up to scratch.
Payday 3 has faced problems since its release in September 2023. Originally, the FPS game was criticized owing to its unstable or inaccessible servers. Starbreeze confirmed it was seeking a new third-party partner to handle the shooter’s online workload, but Payday 3 has also been the subject of complaints owing to unavailable or unfinished in-game features, including a robust chat system and server menu. Players have steadily returned to Payday 2, which as of this writing has 26,334 active players on Steam, in sharp contrast to Payday 3.
On Monday, January 29, the Payday 3 Steam player count fell to just 207. Over the last 24 hours, the highest number of concurrent Payday 3 players was 721 – Payday 2’s concurrent record for the past day is more than 32,000. Based on figures from Steam DB, Payday 3 has lost more than 60% of its player base in the last 30 days. It currently has a ‘mostly negative’ Steam rating based on recent reviews exclusively.
It comes as Starbreeze announces that a new “strike team” of veteran Payday series developers has been assembled to try and improve Payday 3, and bring the game closer to players’ expectations. 10 Chambers, the studio founded by former Payday developers, recently announced its own rival heist game, named Den of Wolves.
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