Starbreeze’s launch of the long-awaited Payday 3 has been a disaster in all sense of the word. After fans waited years for a follow-up to the iconic multiplayer heist game, myriad issues have more than mired the game’s release day.
With Payday 3 server errors, Nebula login issues and other issues rearing their heads constantly, fans have called for the always-online multiplayer game to gain an offline component. After two failed launches in a row, Starbreeze might be listening.
In a statement released on Starbreeze’s website, the studio expressed disappointment at the launch state of its multiplayer title. With thousands of players still unable to play more than a few matches, if any, of the game, Payday 3 is far from stable.
“PAYDAY 3 matchmaking infrastructure has not performed as tested and expected. Matchmaking software encountered an unforeseen error, which made it unable to handle the massive influx of players. The issue caused an unrecoverable situation for Starbreeze’ third-party matchmaking partner,” the studio explained.
“Starbreeze is currently evaluating all options, both short- and long-term,” the statement continues. “In the short-term, this means Starbreeze’ focus is to ensure the player experience. In the long-term, this means evaluating a new partner for matchmaking services and making PAYDAY 3 less dependent on online services.”
Via PC Gamer, Starbreeze CEO Tobias Sjögren confirmed that the studio is working into adding some form of offline functionality into Payday 3. Whether that’s the ability to play with AI without being connected to a server or some form of peer-to-peer play is unconfirmed, if it ever arrives at all.
“[We are] looking at [the] possibility to add some sort of offline mode,” the Starbreeze CEO explained.
Starbreeze is aiming to make Payday 3 less dependent on its online services in the future. At the time of writing, every aspect of the heist game is reliant on a stable online connection that can’t be provided by its current server status.
Payday 3 is currently available on PC via Steam and Epic, PS5 and Xbox Series consoles.