Payday 2 sells 1.5 million, director says versus possible for sequel

Payday 2 has sold 1.58 million copies, and its director says the team has talked and will continue to consider a cops-versus-robbers mode, possibly for the sequel.

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Payday 2 has been pretty successful, garnering generally positive reviews and apparent financial success. The team at Overkill is now thinking about what they might do for a sequel, and the oft-requested (and obvious) cops-and-robbers versus mode is on the table.

Eurogamer reports that in a note to investors, publisher Starbreeze said it had sold 1.58 million copies so far. That's enough for the company to call it a success, even before the planned year of downloadable content.

Game director David Goldfarb says the team is considering adding a versus mode, in which one team plays as the cops, but it would be such a big change that it seems more likely for a sequel.

"We've talked about it, and I'm sure we'll continue to talk about it," Goldfarb told Rock Paper Shotgun. "The one thing, without going into too much detail, is we made a lot of decisions on this game that were ambitious and risky, and one of the reasons that we were able to get it out on time and make it generally a good game is that we didn't entertain a lot of stuff that was outside of our core focus, and the core focus is not versus. The core focus is co-op. So when we revisit whatever we're going to do for the next one maybe that'll change. When you make a versus game it puts you in a different place, and then your attention is kind of split."

Part of that focus on co-op is that he feels it took them a few tries to even get that right. He said the heist concept was "imperfectly realized" in the original PayDay, and the second one is simply "closer to the fantasy in our heads." It's taken some time to make it this far, so adding an entirely separate faction with its own distinct goals seems like a daunting task for the small studio.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    September 13, 2013 2:30 PM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Payday 2 sells 1.5 million, director says versus possible for sequel.

    Payday 2 has sold 1.58 million copies, and its director says the team has talked and will continue to consider a cops-versus-robbers mode, possibly for the sequel.

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      September 13, 2013 3:07 PM

      Payday 2 has been very fun! I'm going to try and grind out a few levels this weekend before I lose my life to GTA V next week.

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      September 13, 2013 3:13 PM

      I have no desire for VS mode - just give us more heists!

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        September 13, 2013 3:29 PM

        I demand female models!

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        September 13, 2013 3:29 PM

        I HATE TO INTERRUPT YOU TROMBLY J. BUT I JUST WANTED TO CHIME IN AND SAY I WAS JUST ABOUT TO SAY THE SAME THING

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          September 13, 2013 5:05 PM

          YO VILE I GOTTA SAY MAN I'M GLAD TO SEE THAT WE ARE SIMPATICO ON THIS ISSUE

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            September 14, 2013 6:31 AM

            HEY GUYS WHERE CAN I DOWNLOAD SIM PATICO IT SOUNDS LIKE A FUN GAME!

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        September 13, 2013 11:09 PM

        They did give us a new heist today, but it seems the getaway can be bugged sometimes and you can't escape.

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      September 13, 2013 3:24 PM

      [deleted]

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      September 13, 2013 3:49 PM

      Yeas please

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      September 13, 2013 3:51 PM

      If this was a Square Enix game that would be a major failure. :/

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      September 13, 2013 4:18 PM

      Who the hell bought this shit? Is the narrative concept so alluring to people that they are willing to play a second rate mp fps just to pretend to be bankrobbers? There are way better mp fps out there.

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        September 13, 2013 4:24 PM

        me. i'm so bad at life sorry

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        September 13, 2013 4:31 PM

        lmao. Its a lot of fun co-op with some friends. Have you played this? cod4lyfe

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        September 13, 2013 4:41 PM

        I did, it was $22 or something w/ the four pack, and guess what? its super fun with friends!!!!

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        September 13, 2013 5:09 PM

        I'll ask!

        What's a first rate mp fps oh connoisseur of mp fps?

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          September 13, 2013 7:09 PM

          Killing Floor. :-( Everyone ignores Killing Floor.

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        September 13, 2013 5:31 PM

        [deleted]

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        September 13, 2013 6:41 PM

        [deleted]

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        September 13, 2013 7:12 PM

        sorry bro I can't hear you over the awesome music pumping through my speakers while I'm holding off FBI assault forces and doing mob hits

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        September 13, 2013 10:00 PM

        I know, it doesn't even have crits.

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        September 14, 2013 2:47 AM

        Me. I thought I was buying something like Thief Online, but it's more like a lame second-rate wave-based survival shooter. :(

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        September 14, 2013 2:59 PM

        like what?

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      September 13, 2013 4:44 PM

      Payday 2 was really disappointing for me. I always want to try stealthing any mission that allows it and fight it out only if there's no other way, but doing that without four real people and much better gear/perks seems nearly impossible. I hate the grinding aspect and wish I just had a pool of skills and equipment to pick from for a given mission, or at least a game mode that offered this. Crime.net is tedious as hell and makes running the mission you want take far too long. The AI is nearly worthless, at least let me issue a few basic commands or something so you can carry a fucking bag instead of wandering into the street to get tased.

      Overall it's not so much that I think it's a bad game, it's just not the game I want it to be.

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        September 13, 2013 6:22 PM

        It's a straight-up coop game with minor singleplayer functionality. They could have communicated that better, for sure, but that's basically the honest truth. A game like what you're describing *would* be entertaining but Payday2 sure ain't it.

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          September 13, 2013 6:26 PM

          I don't care about SP functionality, the game has just been a lot less feasible without all four people (both stealthing and harder difficulty levels). I play regularly with just one or two other people and it has a pretty huge impact on what you can accomplish.

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            September 13, 2013 7:15 PM

            A lot of the missions have been solo-stealthed. You need to communicate with the pubs what your intentions are if they are the ones screwing it up. Certain perks are required to stealth so there is that grind, but how is that different from most games these days?

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            September 13, 2013 10:31 PM

            Turn off the AI.

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            September 13, 2013 10:35 PM

            It's easier to stealth with fewer people. Less people to fuck up my ghost runs

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        September 13, 2013 10:33 PM

        [deleted]

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