You’d be forgiven if you completely forgot about Payday 3’s release, but it actually was released last year. The game will celebrate its one-year anniversary on September 21st, and a lot has changed since that disastrous launch.
Since launch, Payday 3 has been available on Game Pass on PC, consoles and the cloud. And it only lasts a year, because on September 15th, the game will be discontinued as a subscription service. Games come in and out of the Game Pass roster all the time, but things are a little different in this case.
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In the case of Payday 3, a chaotic launch few months have been replaced by a series of major updates covering matchmaking, core game mechanics, skill adjustments, unlocks and progression, and even recently the addition of an offline single-player mode. model.
While some of it has its share of missteps, the general consensus surrounding Payday 3 has turned positive. Reviews on Steam have gone from mostly negative to mixed, and in recent weeks, content creators and casual gamers on Reddit have generally become more excited about playing the game (and advocating for it).
In a recent developer live broadcast, a player directly asked about the Game Pass extension, but the answer he received was a simple “no updates will be provided.” Although the game’s sales on Steam are still quite dismal compared to its predecessor, Payday 2, there is clearly an audience on Game Pass. This is part of the game’s anniversary update. Fear and Greed will be available on September 16th, the day after the game leaves Game Pass.
The decision to ditch Game Pass further fuels player uncertainty about the future of gaming. While Game Pass and console player numbers are not disclosed, Steam’s numbers don’t paint a very flattering picture. Sure, there’s a decent player community that ensures matches can be found quickly, but it’s nowhere near the heights of Payday 2.
Speaking of which, the console version of “Payday 2” has never left Game Pass. Indeed, this version has effectively been abandoned; it doesn’t get any support that the PC version continues to get – but it’s still part of the lineup. Ironically, this disparity in support is one of the issues a new version of Payday 3 is supposed to address.
There is currently a lot of uncertainty surrounding the future of gaming. While positive sentiment about the gameplay changes and content is rising, the decision not to continue being part of Game Pass hasn’t been well received. In fact, Starbreeze may just be feeling good about all the changes that have occurred recently and therefore hope to capitalize on them by selling more copies.
We’ll have to see what happens in the future, but the next few months may be crucial in determining the future.
