Starbreeze Is No Longer Working on an Offline Mode for Payday 3, Says It’s “Not Feasible” For the Studio To Do

Starbreeze Entertainment has confirmed that it is no longer pursuing an offline mode for Payday 3, a feature that fans had been requesting since before the game’s troubled launch. The announcement was made during the game’s second anniversary livestream, hosted on the official Payday Twitch channel, where general manager Jonas Skantz and community manager Elisabeth Elvestad addressed the future of the franchise.

Elvestad opened the discussion by asking Skantz directly what was happening with offline mode, a question at the top of many viewers’ minds. Skantz responded with a mixture of humor and disappointment, ultimately confirming that the feature is not coming.

“Offline mode. Let’s talk about that. I know that the team had good intentions with that, definitely. And they have been trying to make it happen, but I think we have to face the reality that it is not feasible for where we are going with the game,” Skantz explained. He cited both resource allocation and Starbreeze’s current update model as obstacles. According to him, the studio’s limited development capacity needs to focus on progression systems, core loops, and ongoing content, while its current reliance on first-party approvals means even small client updates take weeks to deploy. To achieve quicker fixes and more meaningful community interaction, Skantz argued, the game needs to remain tethered to backend updates rather than a self-contained offline client.

The explanation left many viewers unsatisfied, particularly given recent news that Starbreeze had canceled Project Baxter, a cooperative Dungeons & Dragons title, and laid off 44 developers to “refocus” on Payday. During the same livestream, Skantz also claimed that the studio is “more than doubling the team” to accelerate Payday 3’s development roadmap. The juxtaposition of reducing staff on one hand while asserting insufficient resources for offline mode on the other has left fans questioning the studio’s priorities.

The frustration stems from a long history of unmet expectations surrounding Payday 3. Since its rocky launch, the game has struggled to capture the enduring success of Payday 2, largely due to its limited content offerings and reliance on always-online play. While an offline option would not solve the game’s core issues, its absence has become symbolic of the community’s broader concerns over Starbreeze’s direction and commitment to player needs.

Community reactions to the stream were predictably critical. Threads on the Payday subreddit expressed confusion and disappointment, with many players questioning whether Payday 3 can ever regain its footing. For some, the promise of new heists and expanded progression systems may not be enough to justify leaving the familiar depth of Payday 2 behind.

In the long term, the absence of an offline mode could resurface only when the game eventually reaches the end of its lifecycle, but for now, Starbreeze has made it clear that it is prioritizing online infrastructure and backend agility over fulfilling one of the community’s most requested features. Whether this gamble will pay off remains uncertain, but it underscores the precarious position of Payday 3 as Starbreeze attempts to stabilize and grow its flagship franchise.

Do you think Starbreeze made the right call in shelving offline mode, or is this yet another misstep in Payday 3’s troubled path?