'Loading Screen Simulator' - Also PayDay 3 Wasn't Properly Prepared for Release [Update]
The release of PayDay 3 can not be counted as a success. The devs prepared too few servers and many players complain about long waiting times.
Update: Developers declared that they have managed to stabilize the servers, so that the wait to join the game no longer takes so long. Judging by the comments of players on X/Twitter, the situation has indeed improved.
Yesterday was the official launch of PayDay 3, a co-op shooter in which players can carry out daring heists. We write "official" because owners of special editions started playing three days earlier. A lot of people were waiting for the title, so real crowds flocked to the game. Unfortunately, the joy of players was quickly spoiled by technical issues.
- This can be well seen on Steam, where only 42% of player reviews are positive, which is categorized as a "mixed" reception.
- When reading these negative reviews, it is clear that the game itself is liked by the players, and the problem lies in the serious technical issues.
- Steam users complain mainly about the servers, which are clearly not up to snuff. As a result, players spend more time waiting to find other willing players than playing the game itself.
- The developers clearly prepared too few servers, because people with special editions did not have these problems before the official release. The developers' mistake is all the more surprising, since they should have expected crowds of players. PayDay 2 remains one of the most popular cooperative shooters on Steam, and the third part of the series was on the wishlists of more than 170,000 users of the service.
- The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the game has no offline mode. Even when playing solo, it is necessary to connect to the Internet, and the game uses the official network infrastructure. This causes people trying to carry out heists solo to wait for tens of minutes at a time anyway before they can start playing.
Below are sample reviews from Steam:
"You wait to join a private or public game longer than the mission lasts. The fact that you can't host quests yourself, like in the prequel, is a joke..."
"Loading Screen Simulator."
"I was waiting for PayDay 3 with three friends, but we managed to play only in early access. Then the day of release came and the game's servers simply died."
Also the game's sub-reddit is filled with negative reactions.
- Among other things, players are laughing that they paid $40 for a loading screen.
- Also common are opinions, that PayDay 3 is a perfect example of why games should always have an offline mode.
Instead of just complaining, some players have rolled up their sleeves and started working on an experimental mod, which is supposed to emulate official servers, effectively enabling the players to set up private servers.
Despite these problems, the game is recording impressive activity results. The launch day record was 77,938 concurrent players. Of course, the question arises as to how many of them actually played, and how many stared at the screen of endless matchmaking with growing rage.
Recall that PayDay 3 debuted simultaneously on PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and PlayStation 5.
