Starbreeze hasn't declared Payday 3 dead yet, but it's launching yet another spin-off this year—this time on Roblox

Payday studio Starbreeze has announced a new partnership with Gamefam, "the leading immersive gaming and media company for Gen Z and Alpha communities," to develop an all-new Payday game within the realm of Roblox. The as-yet untitled game, which will "offer players a distinct new entry point into the Payday universe," is set to debut later this year.

This will actually be the second Payday game on Roblox, following Notoriety: A Payday Experience, developed by Moonstone Games and released in 2024.

"Our primary goal is to entertain our players, and that means giving them even more ways to enjoy Payday content and immerse themselves in the world of heisting," Starbreeze chief growth officer Matt Dixon said. "Partnering with Gamefam gives us the capability and expertise to build something new that sits perfectly alongside what Moonstone has created with Notoriety. We're committed to being where our players are."

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That squares with what Payday said in March when it announced a new Payday VR game: That it wants to "expand Payday through selected licensing partnerships and new entertainment formats."

But it also leaves the studio with the still very big problem of where the players are not, which is to say, Payday 3. Starbreeze imposed layoffs, cancelled at least one project in development, and even handed Payday 2 off to a different developer so it could focus on saving the ostensible Payday flagship, yet Payday 3's concurrent player counts on Steam remain abysmal.

That's only one metric, yes, but compare it to the 13-year-old Payday 2, and hoo boy, it doesn't look good.

(Image credit: SteamDB)

These new VR and Roblox games don't mean that Starbreeze is moving away from Payday 3: They're licensed to external studios, so aside from some production oversight, they're pretty much someone else's game to make.

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But the move to non-traditional platforms is interesting, particularly in the context of the Payday 3 struggles: If these Roblox efforts are a hit in ways that Starbreeze can't duplicate in a conventional standalone game, it could mean we'll be seeing more of this kind of thing in the future as Starbreeze and other devs look to leverage Roblox's massive built-in audience.

Gamefam, for the record, "has been the go-to Roblox partner for major game publishers including Sega (Sonic Speed Simulator) and Ubisoft (Brawlhalla) and global brands including Old Navy, Intuit, Paramount and FIFA," Starbreeze said. So there's that, too. More information on this new Payday game will be announced "ahead of launch."