Starbreeze Hands Payday 2 to Sidetrack Games — Here’s the Real Play

Payday 2 Gets a New Custodian While Starbreeze Doubles Down on Payday 3

I had to double-check the calendar: Payday 2 is twelve years old and still outpacing its own sequel on Steam. That’s the awkward reality behind today’s move. Starbreeze is handing future support for Payday 2 to Sidetrack Games (the team formerly known as Lion Game Lion/M.U.G. Team) so it can push harder on Payday 3. As handoffs go, this is one of the least scary options-Sidetrack has history with Payday’s tools and content-but it still marks a shift in how the series will be maintained.

• Sidetrack Games takes over Payday 2 support, with a stability-focused update landing Thursday, October 23.
• Starbreeze reallocates internal resources to reinvigorate Payday 3 after two years of struggling to match Payday 2’s traction.
• Sidetrack previously built Payday DLC and runs Raid: World War II, so it knows the tech-but it’ll be splitting attention across two live titles.
• Near-term gains should be maintenance and QoL; don’t expect big-ticket Payday 2 content drops unless plans change.

Breaking Down the Announcement

Here’s the setup: Sidetrack Games will handle updates and ongoing care for Payday 2 while continuing to support Raid: World War II. Starbreeze framed the decision with a familiar reassurance—Sidetrack “knows the Payday 2 engine inside and out”—and promised “quality updates over a long time.” The first deliverable is a patch on October 23 focusing on stability and player experience. Translation: bug fixes, crash reducers, maybe some netcode and UI polish. It’s the kind of handover that aims to keep a legacy live service healthy without siphoning resources from the sequel.

Why This Matters Now

Payday 3 launched with hype and then faceplanted on core live-service fundamentals—matchmaking reliability, progression pacing, and inconsistent systems all chipped away at momentum. Starbreeze has been in visible redemption mode since, even canceling its Dungeons & Dragons project to concentrate on the heist series. Handing Payday 2 to a trusted external partner is the next logical step if the goal is a full-court press on Payday 3.

From a player perspective, that’s a net positive if you’ve been hoping for Payday 3 to finally find its groove. Concentrated resources are how you ship meaningful overhauls instead of incremental band-aids. The trade-off is accepting that Payday 2, the elder statesman with an absurdly loyal base, moves into a “stewardship” phase under Sidetrack rather than big, flashy content beats from Starbreeze.

The Real Questions for Payday 2 Players

Starbreeze’s “they know the engine” line is comforting, but the real test is cadence and communication. Stability patches are great; sustained quality-of-life tweaks, anti-cheat vigilance, and event refreshes are what keep a 12-year-old co-op game feeling alive. Sidetrack has shipped Payday content before and operates on similar tech, but it now has to balance two live products with different communities and needs.

• Roadmap clarity: Will Sidetrack publish a near-term plan for bugfixes, QoL, and any limited new content?
• Testing pipeline: Can it push patches without the “one fix, two regressions” whack-a-mole we’ve seen in other legacy handovers?
• Community hooks: Will seasonal events, drop rates, and challenges get love, or is this strictly maintenance mode?
• Mod friendliness: Payday 2’s mod scene is part of its staying power—any changes here will be felt immediately.

If Sidetrack nails those, most heisters won’t care whose logo is on the patch notes. The worst-case scenario is long, quiet gaps where only critical fixes trickle in. The best case is a lean, responsive caretaker that keeps Payday 2 smooth while Starbreeze works on making Payday 3 irresistible.

What It Signals for Payday 3

This move only matters if it produces visible gains in Payday 3. The sequel still needs to win back trust on fundamentals: frictionless matchmaking, robust stealth that doesn’t buckle under edge cases, progression that respects time (and doesn’t feel like a treadmill), and a reliable content cadence. Shiny new heists can’t paper over systemic issues. If Starbreeze’s freed-up teams are now fully focused on those pillars—and communicates concrete targets instead of vague “we hear you” posts—there’s a path to a No Man’s Sky-style turnaround story, just in crime-sim form.

I’m cautiously optimistic. This caught my attention because Starbreeze isn’t just talking about focus; it’s changing org charts to prove it. That’s usually when players start seeing real movement.

Industry Context: Live-Service Triage Done Right (or Wrong)

We’ve watched publishers handle aging hits in a few ways: sunset them, drip-feed cheap patches, or hand them to specialists to keep the lights on. The third option can work—if the partner studio respects the community and has the technical chops. Sidetrack isn’t a random outsourcing house; it’s a team with Payday DNA and shipping history on similar tech. That doesn’t guarantee fireworks, but it raises the floor on what “maintenance mode” can look like.

Bottom line: this is a pragmatic split that could benefit both games. Payday 2 stays stable under familiar hands. Starbreeze gets room to finally make Payday 3 the game it should’ve been at launch.

TL;DR

Starbreeze is passing Payday 2 support to Sidetrack Games—veterans of the series—to free up internal teams for Payday 3. Expect stability and QoL for Payday 2, not giant content drops, while Starbreeze chases a true redemption arc for the sequel. If both sides communicate clearly and deliver steadily, the series comes out stronger.