Starbreeze Increases Price of Payday 2's Infamous Collection As It Launches $5 A Month DLC Subscription Service on Steam — And Fans Aren't Happy

Payday 2 developer Starbreeze has introduced a caller subscription work to the 12-year-old heist shooter, bundling "full entree to much than 65 DLCs, packed with heists, weapons, and cosmetics" "for a debased monthly cost" of $4.99 per month, oregon $19.99 for six months. There are presently nary options for three-month oregon 12-monthly subscriptions.

The institution said the subscription volition let players to "explore Payday 2's monolithic contented room astatine their ain pace, mastering the creation of heisting 1 transgression astatine a time" and the subscription — disposable via Steam — "can beryllium canceled astatine anytime."

“With much than a decennary of contented down Payday 2, we privation to springiness players greater flexibility successful however they acquisition the game,” said Gustav Nisser, caput of commercialized astatine Starbreeze. “The subscription work makes it elemental and cost-effective to bask everything PAYDAY 2 has to connection – whether you’re caller to the crippled oregon returning to research DLCs you haven’t yet played. At the aforesaid time, each existing DLCs stay disposable for acquisition arsenic before. This is astir giving players much choice.”

Crucially, however, the presumption of the subscription bespeak it lone applies to "all of the presently disposable Payday 2 DLCs arsenic agelong arsenic you’re subscribed," leaving immoderate players wondering if it volition screen immoderate perchance caller DLC yet to come, arsenic Starbreeze is inactive periodically releasing caller contented for the game, mostly precocious with the Crude Awakening Heist successful 2023.

"I recognize the thought and successful fairness it's not a unspeakable one, caller players tin subscribe for a period and spot what it's each astir without afloat committing," commented 1 player. "Some whitethorn play the crippled connected and disconnected and truthful alternatively of spending each that dosh astatine erstwhile they subscribe for months they wanna play.

"The contented is the DLC bundle was hiked recently, the DLC isn't each that spectacular, and immoderate of the DLC is priced stupidly for the small contented it has (like having 2-3 guns for $10.95 aud for example, that's ridiculous). This is 1 of those times wherever they kinda can't work the country astir similar the clip they promised nary DLC for Payday 2 past backtracked."

"I wouldn’t adjacent caput truthful overmuch if they didn’t jack up the prices of bundles," said idiosyncratic else.

The bundle they're referring to is Payday 2 Infamous Collection, the bundle that contains each DLC released since 2013. Because though it openly announced the subscription and its cost, Starbreeze has softly accrued the terms of the Infamous Collection by 50%, going from $100 to $150 without ceremonial notification.

"There is thing incorrect with the subscription itself, it’s the Infamous Collection pricing alteration which is the problem," suggested idiosyncratic else. "[W]ith this subscription, Starbreeze besides decided to hugely summation the terms of Infamous Collection, to fundamentally marque you wage for the subscription instead, which is nuts.

"Also, with the caller caller heist for Payday 3 being much costly than usual, however bash we cognize that the aforesaid won’t hap for Payday 3 with its DLCs and DLC packs successful future?

What’s besides worrying is that Starbreeze hasn’t said thing astir this yet."

"It upsets maine that specified changes are made quietly, arsenic if hoping that nary 1 volition notice," added another, to which idiosyncratic responded: "It truly feels similar they're conscionable trying to gaffe it nether the radar and spot if they tin get distant with it without a large uproar. This benignant of worldly erodes goodwill truthful fast."

At the clip of writing, Starbreeze has seemingly not publically responded to instrumentality concerns.

When Payday 3 released successful September 2023, we thought its cooperative heists were "off to a beardown start, adjacent if the vault is simply a spot bare astatine the moment." It returned a Good 7/10.

Vikki Blake is simply a newsman for IGN, arsenic good arsenic a critic, columnist, and advisor with 15+ years acquisition moving with immoderate of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's besides a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her astatine BlueSky.