Payday 3 fans lament its inevitable shutdown after Starbreeze confirms transition to always-online: 'This game is on death row'
Bad news, wonky internet havers and those of you leading the rich lives of hermits out in the woods: Payday 3's developers have confirmed the upcoming multiplayer heist-em-up will be uncompromisingly always-online. Fans have speculated this might be the case for a while, ever since the game's system specs on Steam started featuring a requirement for a «Broadband internet connection» earlier this year, but it was confirmed by Starbreeze global brand director Almir Listo in a recent stream.
«Hi Almir, will Payday 3 have an offline mode? Like playing solo?» asked a hopeful viewer of Listo's Payday 2 stream yesterday.
«You will be able to play by yourself,» answered the dev, «but I do believe you will have to have a connection in order to play».
The reasons for that are apparently tied to the game's cross-progression functionality. Listo justified Payday 3's shift to always-online by pointing out that it's «made in the Unreal Engine, it's using cross-progression [and] cross-play». «I do believe we need you to be online, my dude,» said Listo.
Given that both Payday 1 and 2 featured some kind of offline mode—letting you solo their heists with AI help—fans haven't been thrilled by the news that the third game is officially undergoing the transition to always-online. «It's very sad to see them take this route,» said a fan named Crust on the game's Steam forums, pointing out that «Payday 3 will be shutdown one day» and become inaccessible thereafter. «This game is on death row».
Those sentiments are echoed all over. «I think 'always online' is like one of the worst features you can have for a game,» said a top-voted comment from a fan called Nooby_Chris on the Payday subreddit. Even a player who said they understood Starbreeze's
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