Starbreeze has introduced that Payday 3 recreation director Miodrag Kovačević, in any other case often known as Mio, will likely be stepping down from his position in an effort to work “as a designer elsewhere within the venture”.
In a message on X (previously Twitter), Starbreeze says that whereas it researches and plans Payday 3‘s second 12 months of content material, lead producer Andreas Häll Penninger and neighborhood head Almir Listo will likely be taking up the sport’s replace schedule.
No timeframe is given as to when Payday 3 will get its subsequent full-time inventive director, so it appears like we’ll simply have to attend and see what Andreas and Almir carry to the venture within the interim.
Normally, reactions to Mio’s departure look like principally optimistic. One person says that this choice “was probably with how issues went down throughout 12 months 1”, whereas one other says that Mio’s departure is “unlucky” however “an enormous W” nonetheless.
Mio’s exit from his position as director comes as Payday 3 continues to flag by way of participant depend and person opinions. A fast take a look at SteamDB reveals that Payday 3 presently has just below 600 gamers on-line with a 771-player 24-hour peak, whereas Payday 2‘s 24-hour peak is far increased at just below 15,000.
All advised, it has been a tough experience for Payday 3. The sport launched in September final 12 months to middling opinions, and though it loved tens of 1000’s of concurrent gamers at launch, these numbers rapidly dwindled as gamers fled, seemingly in an effort to return to Payday 2.
In February this 12 months, Starbreeze admitted that Payday 3 had carried out at “considerably decrease ranges” than it needed, and former CEO Tobias Sjögren stepped down in March, partly due, it appears, to the sport’s poor efficiency.
In response to Payday 3‘s woes, Starbreeze introduced an formidable initiative known as Medic Bag, which includes overhauling most of the recreation’s key methods. Final month, a roadmap was launched exhibiting off a few of what’s coming within the subsequent few months as a part of that initiative.
If you happen to really feel like checking it out, you possibly can seize Payday 3 proper now on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Collection X|S. It is also obtainable as a part of an Xbox Recreation Move subscription on each PC and Xbox.