Payday 3 is Always Online, Even If You Play Alone – That’s Gaming

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Starbreeze’s Payday 3 looks to be a big step forward for the series, with revamped enemies, new weapon progression systems and different difficulty options. Even the stealth gameplay looks good in the recent beta shots. Unfortunately, there is bad news for those hoping for support for offline play: Payday 3 is always online.

Almir Listo, the global brand director, revealed this during a recent livestream at 9 minutes and 17 seconds. When asked if there was an offline mode “like solo play,” he replied, “No. You can play it alone, but I believe you have to have a connection to play because it’s made in Unreal Engine. It uses cross-progression and cross-play. I believe we want you to be online.”

It may not seem like a big deal, since the Payday series has historically been best played in co-op. However, given that Payday 2 allowed offline play, it feels like a step backwards, especially for modders. A quick look at the Steam forums and Reddit shows a fair amount of criticism regardless.

Payday 3 will be released on Sept. 21 for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. Whether Starbreeze adds an offline mode later remains to be seen, but don’t get your hopes up.