LogInThe studio blamed the server problems on a third-party matchmaking partner.
As some of you already know and maybe even experienced yourself, in the best traditions of the 2023 game industry, the recent release of Starbreeze Studios' PAYDAY 3 has been underwhelming, to say the least, with the long-awaited FPS heist simulator's matchmaking infrastructure being outright broken.
In less than a week since its launch, the game has got a Mostly Negative rating on Steam, with only 32% of reviews showing a positive sentiment. The majority of these negative reviews revolve around PAYDAY 3's multiplayer issues, specifically criticizing the game's new lobby system. Players have lamented that it is nearly impossible to find a server, and even if you do, it is highly likely that it will be unstable and plagued with various performance issues.
Image Credit: Starbreeze Studios, PAYDAY 3
On Monday, Starbreeze commented on the situation, openly admitting that PAYDAY 3's matchmaking infrastructure did not perform as anticipated during testing. In their official announcement, the studio acknowledged that an unexpected error had hindered the matchmaking software's ability to handle the influx of players, attributing the game's server problems to their third-party matchmaking partner.
"PAYDAY 3 matchmaking infrastructure has not performed as tested and expected," reads the statement. "Matchmaking software encountered an unforeseen error, which made it unable to handle the massive influx of players. The issue caused an unrecoverable situation for Starbreeze's third-party matchmaking partner.
A new version of the matchmaking server software was gradually deployed across all regions, leading to improved performance. However, a software update made by the partner during late Sunday again introduced instability to the matchmaking infrastructure. The partner continues to work to improve and stabilize PAYDAY 3's online systems.
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's 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."
Image Credit: Starbreeze Studios, PAYDAY 3
The company's CEO, Tobias Sjögren, has weighed in on the situation as well, expressing the company's disappointment with the problems that players have encountered and stating their intention to regain the community's trust through hard work.
"We are disappointed in the issues our playerbase has faced during our launch weekend, but we are confident in our core product and the quality of PAYDAY 3 – and all available metrics point to it," the CEO said. "We have a lot of diligent and consistent work ahead of us to regain community trust, but we will work hard to do it."
Image Credit: Starbreeze Studios, PAYDAY 3
Despite the game's poor state, it seems that the release has been quite successful. During the launch weekend, PAYDAY 3 had a peak of concurrent players across all platforms of 218,250, and a peak of 1,347,510 unique players. The game's all-time peak on Steam currently stands at around 78,000, according to SteamDB.
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