The scheduled maintenance carried out last week has fixed the initial matchmaking issues that occurred during Payday 3's first few days after launch. Matchmaking has been stable and has had good performance after the completed maintenance. In the past five days, PAYDAY 3 had a peak concurrent players (CCU) of 124,254. In September 2023, the game had 3,167,938 unique players (MAU). Starbreeze Nebula has a total of 4,538,702 registered users across all titles.

Starbreeze will now intensify the commercial activities around Payday 3, after partially pausing these during the previous week. In early October, the first update to Payday 3 will launch, focusing on improving the game experience. The coming months include planned updates for PAYDAY 3 that address both content, Quality of Life-improvements, bug fixes and new functionality.

Hey Hunters! We are excited to announce that Early Access is now live! New and returning players can look forward to joining Pinkyy and her crew through additional adventures, finding new Relics, gear, and weapons beyond what has previously been seen in Stress Tests and Closed Betas. To celebrate the launch, the Relic Hunters Legend is available for a SPECIAL discounted price (33% off) as part of Steam's SHMUP Fest from now until October 2.

How To Join
Players have various ways to get into Early Access such as getting the Rebel Edition, upgrading with the Heroic Content Upgrade Pack, or picking up everything at once with the Legendary Edition which includes a digital comic book, character skins, and more. Additional details about the Relic Hunters Legend Early Access Editions and Content Pack can be found below.

During launch-weekend, Payday 3 had a peak of concurrent players (CCU) across all platforms of 218,250, and a peak of 1,347,510 unique players (DAU). Starbreeze Nebula currently has 3,794,172 registered users. Payday 3 matchmaking infrastructure has not performed as tested and expected. Matchmaking software encountered an unforeseen error, which made it unable to handle the massive influx of players. The issue caused an unrecoverable situation for Starbreeze's third-party matchmaking partner.

A new version of the matchmaking server software was gradually deployed across all regions leading to improved performance. However, a software update made by the partner during late Sunday again introduced instability to the matchmaking infrastructure. The partner continues to work to improve and stabilize Payday 3's online systems.

Ubisoft has confirmed that development on Tom Clancy's The Division 3 is underway, with the reappointment of a series veteran—Julian Gerighty will become the Executive Producer for The Division Universe "once Star Wars Outlaws - a game he is currently overseeing as Creative Director - has shipped." The publisher's low-key press release reveals that Gerighty is not making an enormous geographical move—he is simply moving up the rankings at Massive Entertainment (a Ubisoft-owned studio located in Malmö, Sweden). The French video game publisher revealed initial plans for the next mainline entry in their popular online-only action role-playing series: "A core focus of Gerighty's is to build a team for Tom Clancy's The Division 3, which will be led by Massive Entertainment, while making sure Tom Clancy's The Division 2 remains well supported. Outside of that, his attention will be on a solidification of brand identity."

He will oversee work on existing live service games, including Tom Clancy's The Division Resurgence (on mobile), and franchise spin-off—The Division Heartland—a free-to-play survival-action shooter (developed by Red Storm Entertainment). Gerighty stated: "We may have over 40 million players, but The Division is still in its early years as a franchise. There are so many incredible stories to tell, places to explore and people to protect." A high bar has been set with presentation, he continued: "I think that we delivered that with Tom Clancy's The Division's cutting-edge visuals, incredible gameplay, and promise to the player that they can't get this experience anywhere else, and then again with Tom Clancy's The Division 2. It's about refinement, it's about pushing the quality bar consistently forward."

The launch of Payday 3 is finally upon us! Police and criminals alike quake at the rumors of the Payday Gang arriving in New York City. And today, they arrived. A brand new chapter in the Payday universe is revealed to the world and we're thrilled to have you join us on the journey. We've already shared the roadmap for the first year of Payday 3, check it out here.

The Medic Bag
Should you have any issues with the game, don't hesitate to contact our support team, if you'd like to leave us any feedback we do have a feature upvote page where you can either write your own suggestion or vote on the suggestions of others.

Hello heisters, we want to inform you that Denuvo is no longer in Payday 3. We look forward to seeing you in New York City! Payday 3's release is coming very close, and it's been a long time since we announced that Payday 3's release date is on the 21st of September, with Silver/Gold owners being able to Play Early starting on the 18th. However, one popular reoccurring question has been; At what time?

To best answer this question, our creative team has made us this fantastic asset with a world map, and the release times listed in several popular time zones all over the world. Check it out, for a fast glance at when you need can get in-game.

As Call of Duty nears its 20th anniversary, veteran fans could have over 100 potential answers to that question, and that's not including the 16 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Multiplayer maps that debuted in 2009 - one of the greatest Day One Multiplayer offerings of all time. Afghan. Derail. Estate. Favela. Karachi. Highrise. Invasion. Quarry. Rundown. Rust. Scrapyard. Skidrow. Sub Base. Terminal. Underpass. Wasteland.

As previously revealed, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III will launch with meticulously crafted, modernized versions of these 16 Core Modern Warfare 2 (2009) maps, constructed to maintain the authenticity and accuracy of the originals. Sledgehammer Games' Art Director Matt Abbott and Design Director Zach Hodson detail what that means in the latest Intel Drop.

Hello XDefiant Fans! I've got an update for you and it's a big one! We want to explain further why we haven't given a specific date yet for our launch. And sometimes full transparency is like drinking from a firehose so hope you all are thirsty! First things first. Here is a detailed description of how the submission process goes: Submission is the part of development where we give the game to the 1st parties (Sony, Xbox, etc.) to check that the game works correctly in their environments. To get to that we have to self-test with internal QA/Compliance teams to try and find any issues that might get flagged in the submission process. Once we have fixed or completed all of the tasks that we want/think we need for submission we then spend about 2-3 weeks prepping and validating a CM (Candidate Master) that we think is the final version of the game for submission.

It then goes through 1 week of heavy QA & Compliance testing by several Ubisoft teams. If it passes, then it goes to the 1st parties to be certified for release. 1st parties take a week to get their final report on the submission and give us a Pass or Not Pass with a list of must fixes for the next submission. Also, to be clear during this submission process, the QC team at Ubisoft are putting the build through the ringer looking for functionality bugs and another team at Ubisoft, divided up into PC, Sony and Xbox groups are looking for compliance bugs.

Here's how Forza Motorsport makes you fall in love with cars and build community through competition and skill. We're about to be at the starting line for a new era of Forza Motorsport, and today we're excited to tell you more about our vision behind the game. We also shared the first hour of gameplay with media and creators over the past few weeks, so keep an eye out for impressions of what they thought of the experience. And for those of you who can't wait, we shared a video on Forza Monthly featuring some of the gameplay from the first hour of the game.

BUILDING SKILL THROUGH COMPETITION
The Forza franchise has always been about falling in love with cars and building a community of car lovers and gamers. Forza Motorsport does this through competition and skill. In the new Forza Motorsport, we have completely rethought what it means to play Motorsport. This is a massive game with over 500 cars and 20 tracks, all featuring 24-hour dynamic time-of-day with weather. These cars were handpicked by our team, curated to deliver the absolute best experience across both Builders Cup and Featured Multiplayer for clean, thrilling and competitive racing.

Anyone up for another beta? You guessed it, this weekend we'll run another technical beta of Payday 3. This time it will be OPEN for you to push our servers to the limit. Payday 3 is the much anticipated sequel to one of the most popular co-op shooters ever. Since its release, Payday-players have been reveling in the thrill of a perfectly planned and executed heist. That's what makes Payday a high-octane, co-op FPS experience without equal.

Second BETA
As you might've heard already, we're doing a second Technical BETA - in other words, a server stress test. Same build as last time—so no new UI or heists for now. We want to ensure that we have as few issues as possible ahead of our very imminent launch, so this test is meant to do just that. Between September 8th and 11th we're running an open BETA, just go to our store page, download the build and play.

The new cosmic adventure game, Void Crew, is now available on Steam Early Access. Publisher Focus Entertainment and Danish indie studio Hutlihut Games are delighted to invite you on a journey into deep space. Gather your crew, set your course for uncharted galaxies, and prepare for epic journeys beyond the stars. With a 20% Early Birds limited time discount and a groundbreaking Early Access Launch Trailer, Void Crew gives you a taste of what "co-operation" truly means.

In space, no one can hear you scream…
…except your friends! In Void Crew, humanity unites against a mysterious aggressor - the Hollow. As the chosen ones, you and your crew of up to 4 mavericks must brave the void and bring order to the galaxy! Embark on a cooperative journey that will test your strategic prowess and communication skills. In Void Crew, teamwork isn't just an option; it's the key to reclaiming humanity's lost territory.

Hello heisters, we hope you're having a wonderful week - and if you're not, we have some cool news for you to dig into when it comes to Payday 3! This is the much anticipated sequel to one of the most popular co-op shooters ever. Since its release, Payday-players have been reveling in the thrill of a perfectly planned and executed heist. That's what makes Payday a high-octane, co-op FPS experience without equal.

Post Launch Plans
We're nearing the launch date on September 21 (Early Access on September 18), but today we wanted to give you a glimpse of what's to come for Year One of Payday 3 and its future content. Besides 4 DLCs, with names yet to be fully determined, we'll also look at seasonal events, playable characters, new enemy, weapons, Unreal Engine 5 upgrade, cosmetics, quality of life improvements, new features and much more. Let us know in the comments which part you're the most excited for!

Michael Douse, the director of publishing at Larian Studios, has confirmed to Eurogamer that cross-play functionality is being worked on, although the team was not able to get it ready in time for release day code on PC (August 5) and PlayStation 5 (out today!): "It was always in the planning, but we knew it wouldn't be for launch. It's in the roadmap, and though we have an idea of when we'd like to get it ready for, we don't want to put a date on it until we're sure." Larian and the BG3 fan base are hoping to see players united in online multiplayer across PC and console platforms in the near future, with the Xbox version due to arrive at some point before the end of the year.

Technical and performance issues are present in the PlayStation 5 version—reviewers have noted that split-screen performance on Sony's console is choppy, with local multiplayer sessions forcing a 30 frames per second "Quality" visual mode. This perhaps provides a small insight into the problems encountered when developing split-screen mode for Xbox Series X and S platforms, with the latter proving to be the largest headache. Eurogamer's journalists were also privy to Larian highlighting: "in a pre-launch note to PS5 reviewers, problems with performance in the game's climactic final act in the city of Baldur's Gate. It said it was working hard to fix it. Remember, the studio has had issues with this area on PC too."

Roguelike inspiration meets Real-Time Strategy in Homeworld 3's new co-op mode, War Games. Commanders will need to manage fleet strength across waves of enemies and claim powerful artifacts that augment ships with each completed objective. Based on the results, players will unlock additional artifacts and starting fleets that keep the challenge fresh. Launching February 2024.

War Games, the all-new three player co-op mode extends your game beyond the campaign. Fusing Homeworld's RTS gameplay with roguelike inspiration, commanders take on a randomized series of fleet combat challenges. Claim powerful Artifacts that augment your ships with more power, speed, and, of course, weapons. Based on your results, you'll unlock new fleets to shake up your strategy.

Heisters! We are thrilled to announce that PAYDAY 3 is hosting a technical Closed Beta from August 2nd to August 7th. Players can sign-up for a chance to play the game on Steam and Xbox Series S|X. We have prepared a FAQ regarding the Closed BETA (see below).

PAYDAY 3 is the much anticipated sequel to one of the most popular co-op shooters ever. Since its release, PAYDAY-players have been reveling in the thrill of a perfectly planned and executed heist. That's what makes PAYDAY a high-octane, co-op FPS experience without equal.

As Blizzard evolves as a studio, inside and out, one of the ideas pushing us forward is meeting players around the world where they are and making our games as easy as possible to access and play. We want to give everyone a chance to experience our universes with old friends while making new ones, no matter how they choose to play.

Battle.net is the home of all our PC players, and over the years, we've evolved our platform to support updated technologies, capabilities, and our communities' expectations. But as we've evolved, the industry has evolved too-gaming is no longer just for specific communities as it was when Battle.net launched over two decades ago, gaming is for everyone-and though we remain committed to continually investing in and supporting Battle.net, we want to break down the barriers to make it easier for players everywhere to find and enjoy our games. Which is why we're trying something new...

You might have already seen it, the vampire's out of the coffin (the equivalent of "the cat's out of the bag" for those fluent in Vampire Survivors): Our game is getting a 4-player couch co-op mode on August 17! In a free update! Be the bullet hell with your besties! In today's post, we wanted to explain in more detail how the co-op mode will work, why we're adding it to the game, and some new details of what you can expect when the co-op update hits.

Let's start with what the co-op update will look like. Imagine this: A dog, a tree, and an old man smelling of garlic and death itself meet in a dairy plant. And they turn the whole screen into a wild bullet hell! What sounds like a joke will soon just be a normal stage in Vampire Survivors - well, normal for Vampire Survivors standards, and hopefully fun to play!

There appears to be a faction of hardcore PC gamers within the Microsoft Windows software engineering team—as evidenced in a developer blog post from late May. The section relating to "Reduced game stutter with high report rate mice" provided an early preview for improvements recently rolled out in a Windows 11 update (KB5028185 issued on July 11th). This week's fix "improves your computer's performance when you use a mouse that has a high report rate for gaming." Gamers running PCs on Windows 10 (or earlier) are—unfortunately—missing out on this latest and greatest feature.

Microsoft's blog stated: We know gamers hate stutter, and we're fixing issues throughout Windows so that an untimely frame-freeze won't take gamers out of their immersive experiences. Gamers love to push their systems to the limit in search of the best experiences in-game. Many also use sensitive, high DPI, high report rate mice to shave milliseconds off their response times and increase precision. At the same time, the world of gaming is more connected than ever with gamers relying on an increasing number of background apps while playing, like voice chat, streaming, apps for configuring your keyboard, mouse, or graphics card, and more. The Windows input stack was being pushed to its limits with high report rate mice and their input being delivered to not just the game, but also multiple background processes. In turn, that caused a significant amount of time processing input rather than providing as many cycles as possible for rendering the game experience."

BattleBit Remastered, a low poly alternative to EA's Battlefield franchise, was released two weeks ago via Steam Early Access. Developer SgtOkiDoki has announced that their massively multiplayer online first-person has sold a respectable 1,800,000 copies (at $14.99 a pop) in a relatively short span of time. The game has been in the works since 2016, with its early access launch occurring on June 15 (2023). BattleBit received some attention following the poor launch state of Battlefield 2042, with long term fans suggesting that their money would be best spent on the less visually appealing indie title. Streamers and influencers also focused more community eyes on BattleBit early last year.

Feedback on Steam—"Very Positive" from over 40,000 users indicates that first person shooter fans are enjoying the BattleBit Remastered experience, despite its primitive and blocky art style—SgtOkiDoki recently revealed some insights to How to Market a Game: "Players have an assumption about your game...And if the screenshots don't match the gameplay you have a problem. Our game played like Squad but looked like Roblox. That was a terrible move." Apparently BattleBit had a more military simulator approach earlier on in development, which clashed with its simplistic aesthetics. "We had to make a decision...(the team) had to pull back and make the game more open for arcade. It wasn't a decision I enjoyed, but I had to do it. It turned out it was a good decision." SgtOkiDoki's operation is expanding thanks to the BattleBit's success, but additional staffers will be dealing with an increase in DDOS attacks and a growing number of cheaters within the game's very active population.

As of September 21, 2023, Call of Duty: Warzone Caldera will shut down, as our teams focus on future Call of Duty content including the current Warzone free-to-play experience. We all have had incredible Warzone experiences across the Call of Duty franchise since its first launch, including those in Warzone Caldera. For those players who haven't jumped over to the current Warzone activities, expect a vast number of gameplay choices across three Battle Royale maps (including Season 04's new map Vondel), as well as Ranked Play, the DMZ Beta featuring five different Extraction Zones, BlackCell offerings, and more.

Players should prepare for even more Warzone content across consoles and PC, as well as a new era of Battle Royale on the go with the launch of Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile, which includes a shared Battle Pass and cross-progression. The Call of Duty team and Studios look forward to sharing more details soon. Regarding purchased content in Warzone Caldera - from Modern Warfare (2019), Black Ops Cold War, or Vanguard - that will continue to be accessible in those specific games.

Inspired by beloved Saturday morning cartoons, MythForce unites swords & sorcery with gripping 1st-person combat in a new roguelike adventure. Brave the dungeon alone or join forces with friends to take on an ever-changing Castle of Evil! MythForce is stoked to be a part of Steam Next Fest! 🌟Check out the demo and wishlist here 👉 bit.ly/mythsteam

Meet the Heroes
These courageous champions are all that stand between Eldryth and the tyranny of the vampire lord, Deadalus. Will our heroes prevail against the many malevolent minions, tricks, and traps in his ever-changing dungeon? Tune into the adventure to find out! Scratch that nostalgic itch with wholesome fun that's easy to pick up and play (but tough to master). In true roguelike fashion, each time you're defeated, you'll have to start over at the beginning—but every playthrough makes you a little stronger. Level up as you explore the dungeon, uncovering magical artifacts and upgrades to make you say "I HAVE THE POWER!"

The wait is finally over for the all-new spin on Crash! Players can purchase Crash Team Rumble on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5 & 4, and dive into matches online today with friends and foes alike in this 4v4 team-based rumble. Each team aims to collect the most Wumpa fruit while preventing the opposing team from dropping off their fruit at their own Wumpa Bank. In true Crash Bandicoot fashion, every map is fraught with danger, surprises, and wild traps to put player's platforming skills to the test.

The team at Toys For Bob has taken all of the familiar locales fans know from previous Crash games, and reimagined them into combat arenas with unique Relic Stations that make every match feel fresh and unique. Relic Stations can be activated by teammates to either provide a boost to their team, or wreak havoc on their opponents. To activate a Relic Station, players must collect floating relics scattered around the map, and then deposit them at a Relic Station to activate the power.

XDefiant will launch later this summer, but players won't have to wait that long to play a few more rounds of the free-to-play PVP shooter. Announced at Ubisoft Forward, XDefiant will be running an Open Session for all players on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S from June 21-23; sign up by going to PlayXDefiant.com. Anyone who participated in the Closed Beta in April can log in a day early to participate in a special Early Access phase of the Open Session starting on June 20. Over one million players played in the Closed Beta, which was integral in helping the team test myriad aspects of the game and gather feedback.

"We received a lot of great feedback from our players after the end of our Closed Beta," says creative director Safy Saada, "and for the Open Session, we'll likely see some new faction balancing (particularly for Libertad) based on player feedback, as well as weapon balancing based on data we've collected from the Closed Beta."

F1 ️ World, a new feature for F1 ️23, with a lot to offer as an exciting new way to enjoy the game, serving as a central hub for multiple game modes. You can also watch a video from Maxime MXM to know more about F1 ️ World (below). Here's what the new hub features:

Series
Designed to offer a range of competitive events that take you on a single player global tour of F1 ️, spanning a variety of game modes and tracks, with primary and secondary objectives to complete.

Today we showed Bungie fans worldwide a glimpse of our future at the PlayStation Showcase, in the forms of two major game announcements. First up, we officially announced Marathon to the world! This is the first completely new project from Bungie in more than a decade. Marathon is a sci-fi PvP extraction shooter where players will embody cybernetic mercenaries known as Runners. Exploring a lost colony on the mysterious planet of Tau Ceti IV, Runners - working solo or as part of three-person crews - will fight for survival, for riches, and for fame.

We're incredibly excited to announce the game and to share our vision for the future. We know that you are curious to know more, and we will have much to say in the future. For now, know that Marathon is currently in development on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, featuring cross save and cross play. Check out the Marathon site to learn more about the game and follow Marathon on social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) to stay up to date. Below, don't miss a Q&A with Marathon General Manager Scott Taylor and Game Director Christopher Barrett, where they discuss debuting Marathon to the world.