This week, Starbreeze introduced a new flexible subscription service for Payday 2 that offers players instant access to the shooter and all available downloadable content for $4.99 per month or $19.99 every six months.
The company said the pivot would allow players to explore Payday 2’s vast content library, which includes over 65 downloadable content packs, at their own pace.
“With more than a decade of content behind Payday 2, we want to give players greater flexibility in how they experience the game,” said Gustav Nisser, head of commercial at Starbreeze, when announcing the subscription plan.
“The subscription service makes it simple and cost-effective to enjoy everything Payday 2 has to offer – whether you’re new to the game or returning to explore DLCs you haven’t yet played. At the same time, all existing DLCs remain available for purchase as before. This is about giving players more choice.”
That promise of “more choice,” however, fell on deaf ears due to an apparent marketing misstep that saw Starbreeze launch its subscription model mere weeks after reducing the discount on its Payday 2: Infamous Collection bundle—which also contains every single DLC pack that has been released since Payday 2 launched in 2013—from 52 percent to 33 percent.
That reduction, which essentially increased the price of the bundle for all users on Steam, was viewed by some players as an attempt to funnel people away from a premium purchase and toward the new subscription plan. As evidenced by an influx of recent steam reviews, players were not happy.
“Raise the price for a collection of DLC and then add subs?,” wrote one user.
“Adding a subscription to try milk a 12 year old game and upping the price of the DLC bundle because you refuse to put any money or effort into the sequel is downright shameful,” added another, referencing the struggles of sequel Payday 3.
“We dropped the ball on coordinating internally and communicating with our community properly”
Now, in an email to Game Developer, Nisser said Starbreeze adjusted the discount on the Infamous Collection on September 5 in a move that was “completely unrelated” to the launch of the subscription plan on September 22.
He also, however, conceded the company should have established better channels of communication with its internal teams and players.
“We dropped the ball on coordinating internally and communicating with our community properly,” he added. “The negative reaction makes complete sense, and the community has made it clear how the price change and its timing looks from the outside. We agree with the community, we messed up on this one, and we have reverted the price on the bundle effective immediately.”
Nisser said Starbreeze understands how suspect the situation appears, but retreated the subscription was “not considered at all” when the company reduced the discount on the Infamous Collection from 52 percent to 33 percent.
“In hindsight we should have realized how it would seem,” he added. “Since the bundle only charges for the items you don’t own, and the bundle discount is cumulative with any other discounts (i.e. discounts on the included items), the actual full price of the bundle can vary significantly.”