Payday 3
Starbreeze Studios · Deep Silver · 2023 · Co-op heist FPS
Did the studio keep supporting this game after launch? This page is the evidence.A genuine slow-burn recovery: Starbreeze is still rebuilding Payday 3 three years later, but most of the audience never came back.
01Score breakdown
Five categories, 20 points each, 100 total. Full method on the methodology page.
02The evidence
Payday 3 launched on September 21, 2023 with broken matchmaking and an always-online requirement that left many buyers unable to play; CEO Tobias Sjögren apologized within a day and the first major patch was then delayed repeatedly. Starbreeze launched the 'Operation Medic Bag' rescue plan in early 2024, shipped hundreds of fixes, reworked armor and progression per player feedback, fired its CEO, and delivered four DLC heist chapters. By late 2026 the studio was migrating the game to Unreal Engine 5 and made all heists free in a Year 3 anniversary update — a remarkable long-term commitment that still hasn't recovered the player base, which remains a fraction of Payday 2's.
- Operation Medic Bag delivered hundreds of fixes plus the armor 2.0 and progression reworks players demanded.
- Three years of continuous support culminated in a UE5 engine migration and all heists made free in 2026.
- The first major patch was delayed for weeks with long silences, and early communication was a string of apologies.
- Despite the recovery effort, the player base never returned — Payday 2 still outdraws its sequel several times over.
03Sources
04Audit record
- Launch date
- Sep 21, 2023
- Evidence coverage through
- Oct 4, 2026
- Methodology
- v1.0
- Audit confidence
- Medium
- Why this confidence
- Central record is well documented by official announcements and press, but player-count and review figures come from press reporting rather than first-party data, and Starbreeze's 2025 financial distress leaves the durability of future support uncertain.
- Score band
- Promising (Tier C)