Starbreeze Studios Officially Announces ‘Payday 3’ In Earnings Report

Starbreeze Studios officially announced that development of Payday 3 has started in their latest financial earnings report, which makes it about as official as can be.

Payday 3 has been a long time in coming, as its predecessor, Payday 2, has been out since 2013. Fortunately, it has been confirmed that the current game will receive support for the foreseeable future while development of the new game takes place. The original Payday: The Heist was released in 2011, so the time frame between the sequels is quite large. Of course, The Heist never received the sort of DLC or community support the sequel developed.

Starbreeze Studios CEO Bo Andersson Klint declared in the statement, “It is with great satisfaction that we also can announce that PAYDAY 3 production is officially initiated and at a full design stage. I’d like to especially clarify, that this project will enjoy as much time as we deem needed. It will be done when it’s done. This is our single most important brand today and the cornerstone of our business and we will treat it accordingly. Updates in the near future might be scares and far between. You simply don’t rush PAYDAY 3.”

Taking time to develop Payday 3 is going to be a smart choice on the part of Starbreeze. Payday 2 is still quite a popular game, and the studio’s earnings statement reflects just how important the game is to their revenue stream. The constant stream of both free and paid DLC for the game has kept it fresh for players, and while some people do complain about the nearly 40 pieces of DLC, many of which cost more than a few bucks, the constant development and income have made Payday 2 one of the best heist games in the genre, competing almost exclusively with the Grand Theft Auto series for players.

One thing to note regarding Starbreeze Studios’ desire to take time developing Payday 3 no doubt stems in part from the abysmal launch issues the company had when Payday 2 was released for consoles back in 2015. Issues with matchmaking, bugs, and all the other sorts of launch problems plagued the console release for quite a while, leading to many terrible ratings despite the game’s popularity on the PC platform.

Starbreeze’s earnings statement also reveals another important thing regarding the future of the studio. They recently acquired a Belgian company specializing in virtual reality. Considering 2016 and 2017 have seen a spike in interest regarding VR and associated gaming applications, it is far from impossible to imagine a Payday 3 coming out in a few years featuring an option to play with VR. However, no official statements have been released.

According to Digitial Trends, “Outside of traditional game development, Starbreeze also continues to experiment with virtual reality. A VR center in Los Angeles, made in partnership with IMAX, is underway, and will include John Wick Chronicles: Arcade Edition for players to try out.”

And considering the ties Payday 2 has with the John Wick movie series, implementing the knowledge gained from centers like this as well as their new company makes an investment into VR gaming a likely possibility for the future. It would be great to actually be able to play a heist game where VR plays a major part.

In other Starbreeze news, Psychonauts 2, the sequel to the cult classic, received nearly $8 million in funding from the studio. The game is expected to launch sometime in 2018, so fans of the original still have more than a year to wait for the game. But at least there will be enough time to make sure it is a quality game.

So what are your hopes for Payday 3? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below!

[Featured Image by Payday 2/Starbreeze Studios]