Payday 3 is finally getting an offline mode
Paint the clown red.
Payday 3 will finally be getting an offline mode - although we don't know exactly when.
Payday 3 hasn't exactly had the best of launches. It was plagued with matchmaking issues and online-only requirements on release, and subsequent patches were delayed. All this lead to developer Starbreeze admitting that sales and player activity were lower than it had hoped, but it would endeavour to turn this around with a series of prioritised improvements.
Now, we know more about what these upcoming improvements will be, thanks to the reveal of Operation Medic Bag. Here, the developer announced that an offline mode is coming to Payday 3, as well an overhaul to matchmaking (Starbreeze admitted that right now, "matchmaking isn't doing a good job of bringing people together"), tweaks to the UI, a solo mode and a quickplay option. Additionally, "challenges will be removed", with the developer stating it will "switch infamy progression to be tied to heist completion".
Payday 3's solo mode will be rolled out in two phases. At first, solo players will be able to bypass the matchmaking queue, although they will still require an online connection for things like progression and unlocks. The studio's end goal is to make the game playable offline save for a handful of times. "You will need to connect intermittently to our backend to upload your progression, but will otherwise be able to play offline," Starbreeze said.
"As playing co-op will always be dependent on connecting to another machine somewhere, we are seeking to implement the solution that provides the best balance between reliability, latency and overall experience," it continued, promising more details soon.
The Payday 3 team is also going to take another look at its DLC pricing, with three DLCs still planned for this year, as well as a free heist. It hasn't made any commitments regarding the in-game store, only stating it will revisit this topic next year. The team is also going to circle back to the planned Unreal Engine 5 update, stating it has "reallocated the resources" dedicated to this update to instead help sort Payday 3.
While this all sounds like an improvement, Starbreeze has not yet put a specific timeframe on the majority of the features listed in Operation Medic Bag, only listing it all as 2024. "Many things mentioned need preparation or other features in place to be implementable," it explained. However, there are certain things that the studio will be working on in earnest, with the following aimed to be finished by the summer:
- Quickplay v1
- Loadout Renaming
- Recurring Smaller Content Drops
- Controller Improvements
- Vote Kick
- Rotating Stealth Modifiers
- Unready Button
- Play Again Feature
- Merge Players into Party Post Match
- Daily Activities with Rewards
- Mask Vendor with Weekly Rotating Inventory
- Communication Wheel Improvements v1
Will it all be worth the wait? Time will tell.
As well as its focus on Payday 3, Starbreeze also has a Dungeons and Dragons game in the works. Codenamed Project Baxter, this upcoming game is expected to release across platforms in 2026.