We’re just two months away from the release of Payday 3, a sequel over ten years in the making. After years of support for the game’s predecessor, Starbreeze’s third heist game will have years of support… on PC. However, the day-and-date Payday 3 console ports are extremely hard to trust.
On Steam, Starbreeze’s Payday 2 has benefitted from a decade of near-constant updates. Every month there are new bug fixes, and new events, cosmetics, weapons and heists are still added to the game. In fact, just last month, the game received a brand-new heist: Crude Awakening.
There’s just one issue: not one version of Payday 2 on console has access to this heist. In fact, every version of Payday 2 on console is years out of date with the most recent release of the title missing out on two years of content from before its launch.
Starbreeze’s treatment of Payday on console is a history of abandonment. Starting on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Payday 2’s original console ports were quickly abandoned in favour of the game’s PC port. In 2015, the game came to Xbox One and PS4 in its Crimewave Edition, but was swiftly abandoned by Starbreeze. At the time of writing, the game is five years behind the PC version of the game.
This trend was exacerbated with the release of the game’s port to Nintendo Switch in 2018. A fairly adequate port of the game, the Switch port was bizarrely missing DLC content that was created Yeats prior to the new version’s launch. To be specific, the game’s most recent heist was The Biker Heist, released in 2016 on PC. Of course, that version of the game has not been updated in years.
Starbreeze’s treatment to ports of Payday 2 have even been rough to alternate PC versions of the game. Payday 2’s Linux version was very quickly depreciated with the game’s recent Epic Store launch abandoning the version completely. Even Payday 2’s VR mode feels woefully outdated with archaic controls that have yet to be updated with more modern VR sensibilities.
This all leads to the upcoming Payday 3 console ports and how much we can trust them to be updated alongside the PC version. Well, on the surface, there’s a lot of reason to put some faith in the upcoming sequels release on console, mainly its engine: Unreal Engine 4.
One of the main issues with Payday 2 on console was the use of an in-house engine dubbed Diesel. As sweeping engine updates continued to be created, updating the game’s console versions became increasingly harder. While this doesn’t excuse Starbreeze’s abandonment of the game’s console ports, while still selling the title for a high price, it is still important to keep in mind.
With Unreal Engine 4, the development pipeline of Payday 3 should be much easier. Furthermore, the title should be able to keep its PC version in line with the Payday 3 console ports, bringing gears of future DLC to the FPS heist game.
However, there’s still reason to worry. Starbreeze’s reputation isn’t just a one off example of abandonment, but a serial pattern. With the Switch port of the game being woefully outdated at the time of release, it’s very important to be cautious of Payday 3’s release on launch.
As a fan who has owned Payday 2 across Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC, there’s been no reason for me to ever trust Starbreeze’s ports to ever be supported. I love Payday, it’s a multiplayer experience like no other, but Starbreeze’s poor port management is absolutely dire. I desperately want to believe that Payday 3 will be supported everywhere, but that’s just hard to believe.
I’m not giving Starbreeze the benefit of the doubt before release, but I do hope the developer proves me wrong. If Payday 3 on console is still getting the newest weapons, maps and cosmetics, then I’ll rescind my negative view of the studio, but until then I’ll be watching the game’s console ports with eagle eyes.