Despite problems, Payday 3 recovered development costs in a week

Starbreeze's latest results report shows that, despite problems, their bank robbery simulator recouped the cost of its development after just nine days. It was released on 21 September and completed on 30 September. However, this is based on sales only. If you include Game Pass - where the game was available at launch - the revenue is even higher.

But while the initial release went beyond expectations, the subsequent period hasn't quite lived up to what Starbreeze had hoped for:

"Unfortunately, it quickly became evident that the infrastructure on which the game rests was not holding up - this despite extensive internal and external tests carried out leading up to launch. The consequence is that sales after the period are somewhat lower, but we are convinced that what we have in store will increase sales over time."

Now that the first patches have started to roll out, Payday 3 has left the launch phase and entered what the report calls the live service phase. All that remains is to retain players and attract new ones, including the Payday 2 players who currently outnumber those playing the sequel significantly.

"With the launch completed, PAYDAY 3 now enters its next phase; live service. This means that the team focuses on continued development of both new features as well as improvements requested by our players, and frequent deliveries of new content. We know the potential we have within our existing PAYDAY community and it is our job to deliver a product that attracts new players as well as our PAYDAY 2 players."