Also drops microtransactions
In a release published today celebrating Payday 2‘s 100th balance update, Overkill Software announced that it has fully acquired the rights to the Payday franchise from publisher 505 Games. Any future installments will be the exclusive property of the developer and its parent company Starbreeze. The release also confirmed the existence of Payday 3, which was corroborated by Overkill Software’s Almir Listo in an email to Destructoid. “As per the press release, we’re confirming it’s existence, but that’s it – no more,” Listo said.
“After the transaction Starbreeze will own the full rights to the Payday-franchise for any future developments or commercialization,” the release said. “Furthermore, 505 Games will retain a 33% revenue share of Starbreeze’s net revenues from future sales of Payday 3 capped at 40 million USD, after Starbreeze has fully recouped its development and marketing costs.” The transaction was conducted through shares in Starbreeze, giving 505 Games 4.3% of the company and 1.4% of controlling votes.
Listo also broke down the details of the 100th update on the company’s Steam page. “We’re giving away a community grenade, the skills tree and we’re making the black market free for everyone going forward. We will continue to develop stuff for Payday 2 for another 18 months. We’re excited to continue working on the game until the end of 2017!”
That essentially means Payday 2 will have no microtransactions going forward. I’m all for that — more free content is always a good thing. However, the Steam version still has over $140 of DLC available for purchase, so you can still give Overkill Software a big pile of cash if you want.
A big pile of cash that 505 Games is no longer entitled to. As of May 1, 2016, all money earned from Payday 2 on Steam belongs to Starbreeze. The two companies will continue to split revenue from the PS4 and Xbox One ports of Payday 2. Curiously, no mention is made of the last-generation ports. Maybe it’s because nobody’s out there buying PS3 copies of Payday 2?
