The game developer Starbreeze is investigating the potential of adding an offline mode to their game, Payday 3, due to an ongoing issue with their matchmaking system. Payday 3 has had a rough launch with significant online issues, leading to a mostly negative user review rating on the game platform Steam. These problems have been so severe that more players have reverted to playing the game's decade-old predecessor, Payday 2.


In response to the issues, Tobias Sjögren, the boss of Starbreeze, acknowledged the continuous online requirement's problems and informed via a tweet that the team is considering the addition of an offline mode. The company blamed its third-party matchmaking partner for the game's issues, pointing out that the Payday 3 matchmaking infrastructure did not perform as tested or expected.


The matchmaking software encountered an unexpected error under the massive influx of players, resulting in an unrecoverable situation for the third-party partner. The late Sunday software update further introduced instability in the matchmaking infrastructure. The company is now examining all options, both short- and long-term, to find a suitable solution.


"We are disappointed in the issues our player base has faced during our launch weekend," said Sjögren. "But we are confident in our core product and the quality of Payday 3 – and all available metrics point to it. We have a lot of diligent and consistent work ahead of us to regain community trust, but we will work hard to do it."


In a bid to improve server and matchmaking stability, Starbreeze took Payday 3 offline on September 26 and will take it down again on Friday, September 29, for further upgrades.