Payday 3 Recoups Investment but Disastrous Launch Limits Ongoing Sales

ign.com:

It’s a mixed bag for Payday 3, Starbreeze’s co-op shooter that saw impressive early sales but has since struggled significantly.

Payday 3's launch was plagued with server issues that forced Starbreeze CEO Tobias Sjögren to apologise. The developer apologised again for a lack of communication, then apologised again for failing to deliver a promised patch. Despite all this, Starbreeze said Payday 3 had an impressive 3.1 million players as of October 2, a figure no doubt boosted by launching day-one on Xbox Game Pass.

But there is a question mark over Payday 3's current popularity, which appears to have dwindled. At the time of publication, more people are playing the 10-year old Payday 2 on Steam than Payday 3.

Starbreeze and Embracer Group, which owns Payday 3 publisher Plaion and is having significant trouble of its own, both said investment in the game was recouped as of the end of September, less than two weeks after launch. But Embracer said Payday 3's ongoing contribution to the company’s bottom line will be “below management expectations, due to a softer launch where an unforeseen error relating to external matchmaking software impacted the experience for gamers.” That’s corporate speak for predicting sales and revenue won’t be as high as hoped because the disastrous launch has driven away players.

Starbreeze itself paints a rosier picture for the future of Payday 3, while acknowledging the issues. “On September 21 Payday 3 was finally launched, a milestone for Starbreeze and a reason for the team to be proud and celebrate,” CEO Tobias Sjögren said. “Both interest in the game and initial sales exceeded our expectations, it was clear that many people have been waiting a long time to play Payday 3.

“Unfortunately, it