Payday 3 dev blames “player progression wipe” for long day one patch delay

The Payday 3 studio says the monthlong day one patch delay is due to concerns about a “player progression wipe.”

Payday 3 launched in late September, though it did so in a state of disarray. The rocky release was beset by server troubles, crashing, audio-related issues, and myriad other issues.

Developer Starbreeze Entertainment promised to deploy a major patch packed with over 200 fixes. The update was meant to arrive on October 5, then got postponed to mid-October.

On October 16, Starbreeze shared a message saying the day one patch needed more time in the oven because of newly identified issues. The studio’s back in the news once again, this time offering players an explanation for the unfulfilled promises.

Payday 3 dev explains the day one patch’s lengthy delay

In a “Quick Update” post on the Payday 3 website, Starbreeze apologized for being radio silent for the last several days. The team does have a small update to offer now, however – the long-awaited day one patch is currently making its way through a “testing and certification process.”

It still lacks a firm release date, but the Starbreeze post explains what’s been taking so long. The reasoning is “very long and complicated,” the post says; the short of it is this – after launching Payday 3, the team uncovered “critical errors” affecting its update pipeline.

Their findings revealed that player progression was at the risk of being wiped, meaning holding onto the day one patch represented the best path forward.

The message reads in part, “…we discovered critical errors with our update pipeline shortly after the game released. There was a significant risk to player progression being wiped if we didn’t address this and ensured a solid test environment.”

Discussions about the message on Reddit show most players are just happy the update is finally on its way. And they now have a better understanding of the need for repeated delays.

As one user put it, “…can you imagine if they dropped the patch and everyone’s progression got wiped? That would do more damage to the community than continuing to delay it.”

Still, others wish this information would’ve been relayed much sooner. One such comment reads, “I’m glad they were able to tell us at the very least. Had they told us sooner, we wouldn’t be doomposting, probably.”

Hopefully, in taking their time, the Payday 3 developers will be able to deliver a patch that truly turns things around for the shooter.