By Ash Parrish, a reporter who has covered the business, culture, and communities of video games for seven years. Previously, she worked at Kotaku.
Payday 3 is Performing “Below Management Expectations” – Embracer Group
16.11.2023 - 11:25 / gamingbolt.com / Deep Silver / Starbreeze Studios
To say that Payday 3 didn’t get off to the best start would be a bit of an understatement. The long-awaited co-op shooter launched in September to widespread criticism from critics and audiences alike, catching flak for everything from its progression mechanics and lack of content to connectivity issues and more. That, unsurprisingly, has seen the game performing worse than Embracer Group – parent company of publisher Deep Silver – would have expected, in spite of having managed to attract 3.1 million players in September.
Touching on Payday 3’s launch in its recent quarterly earnings report, the company said that even though the game recouped investments during the fiscal year’s second quarter (July-September), its initial performance has still fallen below management’s expectations. Embracer Group attributes this to “unforeseen” and “external” matchmaking errors impacting the game’s launch, resulting in “mixed reception and performance”.
“Payday 3, developed by Starbreeze Studios and released on September 21, had a positive Adjusted EBIT contribution with the investment recouped in Q2,” the company wrote. “We expect it to contribute positively in FY 2023/24, but below management expectations, due to a softer launch where an unforeseen error relating to external matchmaking software impacted the experience for gamers.”
Payday 3’s troubles after launch included numerous complications with the launch of its first patch, which was delayed multiple times before finally bringing over 100 fixes to the game earlier this month. A free update is also being worked on, which will add legacy heists, progression improvements, and more.
In our review of Payday 3, we gave it a score of 5/10, saying, “Starbreeze Studios’ Payday 3 improves the series’ base gameplay but falls behind on progression, matchmaking, quality of life and more. The lack of social options makes it an even lesser co-op experience.” Read the full review through here.
Payday 3 is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
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