They’ve now indeed signed on with co-publishers Koch Media. They’ve also doubled down on those plans to launch their next grand co-op heist ’em up in 2023. That’s not as far away as it was the first time they said it, but it sure still isn’t soon. According to their announcement today, Starbreeze remain the owners of the Payday series and will continue to lead development. Details of the deal haven’t been disclosed, but Starbreeze estimate the combined investment in Payday 3 from development until 18 months after release to be €50 million. Payday 3 began development in October 2019, they say, and will enter production phase this year. Acting CEO Tobias Sjögren says, Starbreeze also say they plan to support Payday 3 “with additional content and functionalities planned for long beyond the original release date.” No big surprise there, as Payday 2 continued getting new heisting content for years after launchas well. It’s good to hear that Starbreeze and Payday 3 definitely have a future. Payday 2 is still one of the best co-op games in 2020. “If you’ve never played Payday 2 or its predecessor, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was about perfect planning, stealth and crowd control,” says the RPS hivemind. “The reality is a bit different, and it usually goes like this: the four of you excitedly chat about how you’re going to approach a heist, you split up, someone fudges it almost instantly and every police officer in the world turns up to shoot you all in the head.” If they do indeed manage to launch Payday 3 by 2023, that’ll put it a decade after the original launch of Payday 2. I imagine folks will be eager enough to return to co-op heisting by then.
