You’d be forgiven if you’ve completely forgotten about the release of Payday 3, but the fact is that it came out last year. September 21st marks the one-year anniversary of the game’s release, and a lot has changed since that disastrous launch.
Payday 3 has been available on Game Pass for PC, consoles, and the cloud since launch. And it’s not even a year yet, as the game will be leaving the subscription service on September 15. There are always games coming in and out of Game Pass, but this time it’s a little different.
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In the case of Payday 3, it comes after a tumultuous few months that saw the game receive a series of major updates that addressed issues with matchmaking, core gameplay mechanics, skill tweaks, unlocks and progression, and even recently added an offline single-player mode.
While some of these reviews haven’t been without their missteps, the overall reception to Payday 3 has turned positive. Steam reviews have gone from mostly negative to mixed, with content creators and regular players on Reddit generally becoming more interested in (and supportive of) the game in recent weeks.
During a recent developer livestream, one player asked directly about the Game Pass extension, but was given a simple answer: “No updates.” There’s clearly an audience for the game on Game Pass, even if its Steam sales are still pretty terrible compared to its predecessor, Payday 2. Even more disappointing is that this news comes on the same day that the trailer for Fear & Greed Chapter 4 was released as part of the game’s Anniversary Update. Fear & Greed is set to launch on September 16, the day after the game leaves Game Pass.
The decision to abandon Game Pass further exacerbates uncertainty about the future of the game. While Game Pass and console player numbers have not been made public, Steam’s numbers are not promising. Sure, there’s a decent community of players that can help you find a match quickly, but it’s nowhere near the heights of Payday 2.
Speaking of which, the console versions of Payday 2 never left Game Pass. Indeed, that version was effectively abandoned; not receiving any of the support that the PC version continues to receive – but it’s still part of the lineup. Ironically, this disparity in support is one of the issues that a brand new version of Payday 3 was supposed to address.
There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the future of the game right now. While positive sentiment towards the gameplay changes and content is on the rise, the decision to no longer be part of Game Pass has not been well received. In fact, Starbreeze might just be happy with all the recent changes and it wants to capitalize on them and sell more copies.
We will have to see what happens in the future, but the next few months may be crucial in determining the future.
