The Payday 'killers' Have Arrived
Payday 3 has not had a dream start to Life by any stretch of the imagination, besieged by server melting issues at launch the game went from being steam's most purchased title to a review bombed unplayable F in the span of about 4 hours things didn't get much better from there after update one was delayed by upwards of a month due to critical internal process troubles, and as a result Key Community complaints still haven't been fully addressed 3 and a half months later there's always room for Redemption and I remain dedicated to covering its updates and I'm still enjoying the base game G play at the very least but my unwavering optimism has faded no one's blowing anyone at this point however the wider franchise remains almost as strong as ever people are still playing Payday 2 in their droves and I doubt the payday gang's actual stock has taken as much of a hit as star bre as has the future of the franchise is still bright.
I think we're meant to be getting a TV series; it can't be all bad, but they say no man is an island and no successful game exists without legitimate competition and a lot of imitators. So particularly over the next 18 months payday 3 can expect to face down contenders for the co-op heisting Throne from some familiar and brand new sources so let's dive into the payday killers that might be giving Dallas and Co even more headaches before 2024, is through unless you are living under a rock in December you'll know the GTA 6 trailer leaked early prompting Rockstar to just slap up the official thing much the unbridled Joy of seemingly the entire Gaming Community as that YouTube article has broken a whole host of Records in the past month sitting at over 166 million views as of this script being written, now GTA has never been a direct competitor of paydays regularly having a greater console focus on their launches whilst payday has traditionally flourished on PC.
Thematically, though the two share some similarities with heist money firearms and a general disrespect for law enforcement, all being at the forefront of their respective gameplay loops. GTA Sandbox differs from Payday's more structured heisting formula, with both having their own fans as well as pros and cons.
My take is that Starbre believes that they offer a different enough gameplay proposition such that they're not really competitors and instead jointly bring greater attention to the crime genre of article games, but I've never witnessed interest in a game quite like GTA 6 in my lifetime; it's obviously still a long way out, slated for 2025.
But if Payday 3 is to mimic even a portion of Payday 2's longevity, there will be some development overlap, and I genuinely believe the entire industry is clearing their calendars to avoid competing with this giant of gaming as much as possible. GTA 6's success is inevitable, but only time will tell whether its launch is going to be an opportunity for Starb to evangelize the virtues of robbing their banks too or if it's going to overshadow Payday 3 completely and become the final nail in the coffin.
From a game that has hundreds of millions of views on its most recent trailer to one that's not yet broken a thousand cran bosses. Rock a City is absolutely a Payday competitor, although I'm not too sure Starb sees it that way just yet. While the game certainly hasn't taken off, probably not helped by its epic store exclusivity, rather surprisingly, it has still been following its road map and receiving consistent positive updates.
In-game studios are sticking with their first release, which is getting incrementally better from patch to patch. I still think they were on to something with their Rog-like single-player campaign, and all the Michael Madson Travis Baker silliness is good fun. You better buckle up because you got a ton of ass kicking action coming your way in the killer new game in crime Bar rck City, you know it, baby, so maybe there is still room for them to compete with Payday 3's struggling player counts in 2024.
I'm obviously not informed as to the nature of their epic exclusivity deal, but should the game finally make it over to Steam. I can see a protest player base emerging and actually being surprised by the fun that can be found amidst the ludicrousness of the game. While I will say good luck to the studio, I don't see Crime Boss ever being a Payday killer, more of a thorn in their side, which will hardly be appreciated after Payday 3's rough launch.
However, I don't see ex-board member Bo Anderson ever enacting his revenge upon star Brees via Crime Boss in a twisted turn of fate. Fate is much beloved by the community. Brother UL just might be the CEO of 10 Chambers; he and a wide-ranging team containing Overkill and star Illumina have been quietly working on a futuristic co-op heisting game to follow up on the critical success of GTFO.
Announced at the game awards den of wolves is a genuinely fascinating premise which explains why all reportedly payday 3 is a safe sequel in recent interviews, den of wolves much like GTFO before it appears to be anything but safe in concept with an incredibly unique techn futurist aesthetic and narrative hyper hardcore corop elements that'll likely make it tough as nails and an extremely unconventional marketing strategy, at the game awards after showcasing an already confusing cinematic trailer certain co- streamers were mock hacked taking them to an ARG fil web page more on that Madness later but it's fair to say den of Thieves is playing to a more hardcore crowd choosing Intrigue and complexity in their approach to marketing, which I imagine would be considered a high-risk strategy to any experienced marketers out there I've also noticed that they're not sh in mentioning their previous work on payday the Heist and 2 suggesting they're going headlong into this launch as an outright competitor to payday's heisting game Crown instead of skirting around the subject, this is an interesting approach as it appears to be going for the throat of payday 3 by insinuating this is where the real Payday devs went after the collapse of starb.
Of course we know that isn't really the case 10 chambers does have a lot of that early Overkill and grin pedigree but it Formed long before The Walking Dead Fiasco and many of the early payday devs still remain within stares, hell I've even met some of them so what I also think this is doing is piling on the pressure for den of wolves to succeed as a worthy successor to the franchise especially up against the PowerHouse that is Payday 2 we've seen this name dropping strategy not work out the best for the likes of be for blood and the Kalisto protocol over just the past couple of years, now if you were as confused as I was by this initial marketing P don't worry I've done a full breakdown of what exactly den of wolves seems to be all about and why payday 3 might just have to up the anti themselves to compete with its insane premise.
