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Payday 3 has less players than Payday 2 on Steam, yikes

Payday 3 has less players than Payday 2 on Steam, yikes

The Payday 3 launch could have gone better!

The Payday series is one that is very popular amongst its legion of fans. In Payday, players must work together cooperatively to pull off the heist of the century or in most cases, an attempted heist that ends in utter chaos.

Regardless of how the heist ends up, the Payday series offers endless fun, especially when playing with friends. If anything, the more chaotic the heist, the more fun you’ll probably have. So when Payday 3 arrived in September 2023 for PC and modern consoles, it should have been a time of celebration for fans.

Check out the Payday 3 gameplay trailer below!

Sadly, when Payday 3 launched it was having server issues so bad, that it was unplayable for many. In fact, there were reports that even those attempting to play the game solo were placed in online queues. As a result of its launch woes, there are currently more gamers playing 2013’s Payday 2 than Payday 3 on PC Steam.

At the time of writing, according to SteamDB, Payday 3 has just over 7,000 concurrent players, a 24-hour peak of 17,756 and an all-time peak of 77,938. This is compared to Payday 2 which currently has 13,502 players right now, a 24-hour peak of 35,407 and an all-time peak of 247,709.

Obviously the above doesn't make good reading for the developers at Starbreeze Studios and Payday 3’s launch issues certainly didn't help matters. Thankfully the developers are aware of the reported issues and are working on fixes. It’s also worth keeping in mind that the above numbers only reflect the PC platform, and not PlayStation or Xbox.

In related news, in an attempt to combat the Payday 3 server issues, Starbreeze Studios is considering adding an offline mode to the game via a future patch.

Payday 3 is available now on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. It is also available on Xbox Game Pass at no additional cost to subscribers.

Featured Image Credit: Deep Silver

Topics: PC, Steam