Payday 2's Player Count is 10 Times Higher Than Payday 3 Right Now

Payday 3 launched on September 21, and many fans assumed that it would build on what they loved about Payday 2. Unfortunately, unstable servers and questionable decisions from developer Starbreeze Games almost immediately led to a lackluster response from players, with the game quickly earning the dreaded "Mostly Negative" score tag on Steam. Despite Starbreeze making moves to address stability, the fanbase has, for the moment, seemingly moved on from Payday 3. The intriguing part about the migration though is that it seems that a large chunk of the playerbase has moved back to Payday 2. Currently, there are ten times more Payday 2 players on Steam compared to Payday 3 players.

Payday 3 Player Count

As reported by PCGamesN, Payday 3's current player count on Steam is hovering at right around 2,500 players per SteamDB. In comparison, Payday 2, a game that has been out for a decade, boasts a player count of over 25,000. For those without a calculator, that's ten times the number of players currently playing the previous version of the game despite Payday 3 releasing just last month. It's almost important to note that this isn't a one-off. Payday 2 has consistently fluctuated between 20,000 and 40,000 players over the last few months, dwarfing what players have been seeing in Payday 3.

In fact, if you look at the 24-hour peak numbers that PCGamesN posted, Payday 2 peaked at 40,000 players, while Payday 3 could only muster 3,500. What's even worse for Starbreeze is that Payday 3's player count has consistently been declining on Steam. At release, it hit around 50,000 players, but that number was already down to 30,000 after a week. Now, it's only falling further down the charts, and it might be some time before Starbreeze is able to right the ship.

All of the issues surrounding server stability have caused Starbreeze to push back many of its plans for its first big patch. Until it's able to get the issues fully under control, the playerbase isn't going to come back in droves even if the developers add new heists and characters to the game. Fortunately, that seems to be the team's focus now, so there's hope for Payday 3 fans that Starbreeze can turn the rocky launch around and deliver a game that players will stick with over the long haul. 

Payday 3 is currently available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Currently, there's no word on exactly when the first big patch will be released, but the team recently pushed it back past mid-October. Hopefully, Starbreeze will provide players with a new update relatively soon.