Payday 3 May Get an Offline Mode After All

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Payday 3 is always online, a decision which seems to have backfired if the game's launch is anything to go off of (and since it just launched last week, that's really all we have to go off of). Because matchmaking and server issues have plagued the game since its release, players have routinely been unable to play with others and in many cases haven't even been able to start a solo game. In light of these problems, Starbreeze Studios is considering the possibility of adding some sort of offline mode to the game, but nothing has been decided on at this time.

Will Payday 3 Get an Offline Mode?
Payday 3 seems to be one of those games that's better played with others if the past games were any indication of the future of this one, but if people can't play the game online anyway, a solo, offline mode is of course the next best answer. Tobias Sjögren, the CEO of Starbreeze, hinted at the possibility of an offline mode in a reply to a player on Twitter while referencing some communications shared by Payday 3 producer Andreas Häll Penninger.

"Jokes aside, been communicated by Andreas for example that team is looking at possibility to add some sort of offline mode," Sjögren said.

The possibility of an offline mode was one of the many topics brought into question by the Payday 3 community during a stream meant to answer questions about the game, its launch, and its future. That full stream can be found here for those who didn't get to catch the initial run but have questions about Starbreeze's current plans for the game.

Recommendation; ”Game pass” is better than ”hard pass”… 😉

Jokes aside, been communicated by Andreas for example that team is looking at possibility to add some sort of offline mode.
— Tobias Sjögren (@tobiassjogren) September 24, 2023

Starbreeze attributed part of the instability around Payday 3's launch to issues the game's third-party matchmaking partner encountered. While progress briefly improved around the game's launch, an update from that partner resulted in issues once more, issues which Starbreeze said in a statement were not evident during the public tests Payday 3 went through before the game released. That same statement echoed part of what Sjögren said in his tweet by indicating that Starbreeze will be looking into making the game "less dependent on online services," though that's a long-term plan, not a short-term one.

"The issue in question did not manifest during Technical Betas or Early Access due to the specificity of rapid user influx and load-balancing. Starbreeze is currently evaluating all options, both short- and long-term. In the short-term, this means Starbreeze' focus is to ensure the player experience. In the long-term, this means evaluating a new partner for matchmaking services and making Payday 3 less dependent on online services."

Right now, the game has dropped to a "Mostly Negative" review score on Steam, and it doesn't look like that score will be rocketing back upwards anytime soon until these matchmaking issues are fully resolved so that people can actually see what Payday 3 has to offer.