Just a day after launch, Payday 3 servers are down as player demand has caused them to crash on all platforms. Since yesterday’s launch on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, the game has been riddled with matchmaking issues that have seen many players left sitting in their safehouse.
The Payday 3 team is “working hard” to restore server functionality
Earlier this afternoon, developer PLAION reported another increase in matchmaking issues. A few minutes later, it became clear that all platforms were unable to matchmake and they were “working hard to restore functionality.”
Matchmaking issues began shortly after Payday 3 launched. After the developer deployed some fixes for the initial issues, the team declared the game open for business earlier this morning. Unfortunately, the issues have reared their ugly heads again. As Payday 3 doesn’t have an offline mode, it leaves everyone unable to rob banks and art galleries, although the most frustrated players are those who were able to start heists but have found themselves unable to escape as the servers disconnected, as demonstrated by Reddit user b1sakher.
The server issues have reopened the debate about online-only games. Despite also being a live service game, the game’s predecessor, Payday 2, had an offline mode that allowed players to take on the heists single-handedly and many players are calling for a return of that option. In fact, one PC player is already working on a mod that will add an offline mode for players on that platform, but there’s no ETA on its arrival and PS5 players will miss out, of course.
It’s too early to tell whether the matchmaking issues will be a short or long term problem, and even whether they will get in the way of the planned schedule of post-launch content. Starting later this year, there are four add-ons planned to be released through Fall 2024.
