Amid a period of ongoing tumult for its parent company Starbreeze Studios, Overkill is resuming development of Payday 2. The studio's CEO, Mikael Nermark, took to the Overkill blog to share good news and bad news. The good news is Payday 2 is back in business for the first time in nearly a year. The bad news is they can no longer hold to their promise that all of the game's future content will be free.
In a lengthy letter, Nermark explained what's coming down the pipeline for the co-op heist shooter. Payday 2: Ultimate Edition will be replaced by the Legacy Edition, which Nermark says is still "the best offer on anything released 2018 or earlier." Future content will arrive in both paid and free forms, following the company's plans years ago to support the game exclusively with free updates. The option to purchase DLC in piecemeal will return too, as players have long requested.
Nermark spoke honestly about the studio's recent experiences, likening the last year to "something of a purgatory fire." He went on to say this about the broken promise:
"To get it out of the door immediately; yes, I know we’re breaking a promise. We do not do so with ease or take this lightly. At one point in time, our company believed that the interest and engagement in PAYDAY 2 would decline over time, as new internal games were released. Resources were needed on new projects and production of PAYDAY 2 was scheduled to stop and no more updates to come. By popular demand this deadline was extended a few times, but development on PAYDAY 2 ultimately shut down December 2018."
Overkill's parent company Starbreeze Studios has been the root cause of the game's troubles, as it found itself in an acute liquidity shortfall -- otherwise known as quickly running out of money -- late in 2018. Nermark recalls when Overkill was informed on December 3rd, 2018 that they only had enough money to remain operational until mid-January, just weeks later. The company has since entered reconstruction.
Overkill has managed to stay afloat and with interest in Payday 2 never waning in the way the team anticipated, they've decided to resume working on it to live another day. Nermark promises more teases and reveals for Payday 2 content soon.
