Starbreeze plans to buy back the publishing rights for Payday 3 from Plaion (Embracer) for $3 million to independently release and develop the game.

By acquiring the rights, Starbreeze will be able to accelerate content development, release all content on their own terms—including on other platforms—and continue expanding the franchise. At the same time, Plaion and Starbreeze haven’t ruled out future collaborations on Payday projects.

However, it’s unclear whether this will actually help the game, given its current Steam player count of 300-1,000—compared to Payday 2’s 8,000-25,000 (despite being over 10 years old). Not only have the developers refused to change various gameplay elements criticized since launch, but there are also major complaints about content releases. The studio has already dropped a slew of DLCs ranging from 3to3to15, including weapons, outfits, and—most controversially—maps from the previous game ported to Payday 3’s engine. Many players have long criticized Starbreeze for Payday 2’s excessive DLCs, and the new game seems to be repeating the same pattern, only now some content must be repurchased.

The community is left with a logical question: Why pay again for content that was already purchased long ago in the second installment - which remains much more alive (and in some aspects superior to) Payday 3?

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