Payday 3 gets an offline mode that requires players to be online

Payday 3 has finally received a long-requested offline mode, though it bafflingly still requires players to be online and connected to the servers.

When Payday 3 released in 2023, many players from Payday 2 lamented the lack of an offline mode to enjoy solo, as the sequel was designed as an online-only game, in contrast to previous installments.

Devs at Starbreeze Entertainment outlined back in February that as part of Operation Medic Bag, an initiative to address player frustrations amid dwindling player numbers, an offline solo mode was coming.

Now, in June 2024, Starbreeze has revealed the long-awaited Solo mode will be coming, but much to the community’s dismay, it still requires players to be online.

Announced in a developer update, the devs detailed their rollout of a “solo mode beta” to let players test things out early.

However, you’ll need to stay online and connected to their servers when doing so. In order for progression to be tracked properly, devs previously confirmed players will need to be connected to the game’s servers.

However, the solo mode beta has not been finalized just yet, as Almir Listo, global brand director and head of community for Payday said, “It’s not our full vision for this feature, for now, we’re setting it as a beta to test how it runs.”

“We expect the performance to be affected since the parts normally frontloaded by our servers will now have to be run on your own hardware,” he continued.

“You will still be required to start the game while online in solo mode, which will be improved once we improve this feature.”

Payday 3’s launch was a disaster for Starbreeze, seeing its CEO apologize to players after its release and eventually leave the studio in early 2024.

Currently, Payday 3’s Steam player count is still dwindling. In May 2024, it had an average of 333 players and a peak of 1,641. Meanwhile, Payday 2 has 12,941 players online at this very moment.