Payday 3 Sales & Activity Are Significantly Lower Than Starbreeze Expected

Sales and activity for Deep Silver and Starbreeze Studios’ cooperative first-person shooter, Payday 3, are significantly lower than the developer had expected.

In its fourth quarter year-end report for the period of October to December, 2023, Starbreeze has shared that sales and activity for Payday 3 are currently at significantly lower levels than it would like. The studio’s biggest focus and absolute priority, both during and after the quarter, are the efforts needed to ensure that the game lives up to expectations.

The developer mentioned that it is working closely with its co-publishing partner Plaion to identify the changes that it will implement, in both the short- and long-term, that add the most value to the gaming experience. This month in February, the Payday team will announce the changes and improvements that are prioritized for implementation.

Starbreeze stated highlighted examples from the game industry, where a problematic initial time on the market is turned into long-term success. There is no simple recipe available, but a common thread from the positive examples is to take players’ criticism to heart,
dare to support the game and keep an open and honest dialogue with stakeholders. That is exactly what the developer now claims to be doing with Payday 3.

Previously, in its second quarter earnings report for the year 2023, Embracer Group had also stated that Payday 3’s sales fell below expectations. According to the company, the game saw a mixed reception from critics and users, and the studio saw an unforeseen error related to its external matchmaking software. Since October, matchmaking has been stable and has had a better performance. Payday 3 had a positive Adjusted EBIT contribution with the investment recouped in Q2. The game is expected to contribute positively in FY 2023/24, but below management expectations. The report mentioned that Starbreeze is now hard at work with its live service plans for the game including frequent new releases of content, as well as quality of life improvements and added functionality to improve the player experience. Two new free “heists”, or missions, are planned for launch in the near-term.