Payday 2 developer apologises after paid-for boosts blowup

Payday 2 developer Overkill Studios has apologised to its community after a month of changes that infuriated fans.

The drama began in mid-October when Overkill added stat-changing microtransactions to its popular heist shooter.

Overkill tweaked the game in response to fan anger but then defended the introduction of microtransactions in general by saying they were needed to fund the amount of investment already planned for the game.

Finally, just over a week ago, Overkill upset its community all over again with another controversial new addition: weapon skins with XP and cash boosting buffs. Even the game's community moderators decided they'd had enough, and hung up their banhammers in protest.

Now, after the dust has settled, producer Almir Listo has issued an apology. In an open letter to the Payday community, Listo admitted Overkill's mistakes and set out a multi-point plan of fan-pleasing initiatives.

"The past few weeks have been some of the most challenging in the history of this community," Listo wrote. "Players have been angry with us, media have written about us en masse and our volunteer moderators went on strike.

"For all the distress we've caused the past few weeks, I'd just like to take the time and say that we're sorry. We've done a lot of things right in the past, but these past few weeks we screwed up. We need to get better at many things, and we will do our best to improve as soon as possible."

Overkill has met with its striking moderators and listened to community suggestions for how to change the stat-boosts. Eight Overkill developers will begin taking an active part in the game's forums "starting next week".

The developer will fly out a group of modders to Overkill, meet with others and set up a meeting with one of the game's most high-profile players.

Heist tournaments will be tested, and shown off at the upcoming DreamHack Winter event next week. Finally, new voice-over will be added to the game via a forthcoming update.

All of which amounts to a lot of promises for meetings and more discussion, but no confirmation yet of any big changes or the reversal of controversial decisions. The message is clear: we will do better at listening. But the Payday community undoubtedly will be looking for actions after those words.