PAYDAY 2 hits milestone, dev apologizes for microtransactions
The ultimate game of criminal shenanigans, PAYDAY 2 has only grown since its release and it has now reached a new milestone of 4 million community members on Steam.The announcement of the milestone came a few weeks after the release of Update 100 which saw some major changes to the infamous Black Market. Introduced last year, the Black Market system gained a bit of infamy amongst fans as players now needed to purchase drills in order to open safes. One major focal point of the 4 million members announcement was OVERKILL discussing the reasoning behind the Black Market microtransactions.
The ultimate game of criminal shenanigans, PAYDAY 2 has only grown since its release and it has now reached a new milestone of 4 million community members on Steam.
The announcement of the milestone came a few weeks after the release of Update 100 which saw some major changes to the infamous Black Market. Introduced last year, the Black Market system gained a bit of infamy amongst fans as players now needed to purchase drills in order to open safes. One major focal point of the 4 million members announcement was OVERKILL discussing the reasoning behind the Black Market microtransactions.
OVERKILL offered the main reasonings of the Black Market as, “We want to continue working on PAYDAY 2 as long as players permit us and we want to continue making bigger, better and cooler content for our players. You can only do that if we have the continued support of the community and make money. As time passed, sales declined. We pushed out DLC to cover costs, but we felt there was more to be done to create a more diversified way to retain revenue and not tax the players with only DLC. So we found a clever way – or so we thought – on how to add another layer to the game that people could enjoy, while at the same time making a small profit margin. We introduced the Black Market.”
While OVERKILL knows the response was overly negative, the developer still stands by their decision. “Suffice to say, the reception was horrendous. You hated it, and us for it. You felt betrayed, you were angry with us and media covered the outrage thoroughly. It was difficult for us developers, but we endured, as we believed it was for a greater good – the continued survival of the game.”
OVERKILL must have reached their goal however as they have now made the Black Market free. Additionally, the developer announced news about a new skill system and a free grenade explosive for players.
At the end of the update, OVERKILL includes an apology to fans. “Some players seem to think that we haven’t properly apologised for what we did last year. We think it’s important to realise that we can’t be sorry for wanting the best for the game, trying to work on the game and improving it, ensuring its continued development. What we can be sorry for however is the pain we caused to community members who’s trust we broke by doing what we did. We apologise. You have helped teach us that there are better ways to release new systems into post-launch development. You have also made it clear on where else we need to improve, like our communications, transparency and more. For this, we thank you and hope you accept our apology.”
They also took the opportunity to thank publisher 505 Games who has now given OVERKILL full rights to the PAYDAY franchise. “Throughout these past five years of PAYDAY 2 development, there has been one single constant. The unwavering support of our community, and that of our publishing partner 505 Games. Through the years, our players have supported our every decision known and unknown to them. 505 Games has been with us from the beginning of the project, and have been there to support and guide us when we had no other bandwidth than for developing the game. It is in part thanks to 505 Games and their incredible support that PAYDAY 2 is what it is today, and that we now had the opportunity to acquire the full rights and bring the franchise back home. The perfect scenario for any game developer.”
If you don’t already own PAYDAY 2 on steam and wish to pick it up, you’ll be delighted to hear that all versions are now 75% off thanks to the Steam Summer Sale.