Vice Studios might quickly assist Chains, Dallas, Hoxton, and Wolf break into the film and TV enterprise after buying the movie and tv rights to the Payday franchise.
The corporate behind Gangs of London introduced it was laying the groundwork to deliver the favored online game franchise to a brand new medium as half of a partnership with Starbreeze Leisure right now. No particulars relating to how the pair will translate co-op heist gameplay for brand new audiences had been revealed, suggesting it will likely be some time earlier than plans materialize.
“PAYDAY has a world that’s larger than the sport itself,” president of Vice Amy Powell stated in an announcement. “There’s mythology behind the masks and a crew of characters with actual historical past that’s extremely thrilling to discover. Partnering with Starbreeze Leisure, we’re excited to construct that universe and see how far it may possibly go on display screen.”
Payday bought an explosive begin when its first recreation, Payday: The Heist, launched for PlayStation 3 and PC in 2011. Set round 4 masked financial institution robbers, its gameplay tasked gamers with working collectively to commit crimes throughout completely different situations as rapidly and cleanly as attainable. Gamers confirmed as much as put collectively plans and improvise when schemes fell aside, with its formulation finally expanded upon in 2013’s Payday 2 and 2023’s Payday 3.
Former Starbreeze CEO Tobias Sjögren, who exited the corporate in 2024 following the disastrous launch of Payday 3, commented on the chance of a possible Payday film or present when chatting with GamesIndustry.biz again in 2023. On the time, he known as it a “good match,” teasing that such a venture might additional discover the background for characters like Chains, Dallas, Hoxton, and Wolf.
Sjögren’s feedback arrived simply months after Starbreeze introduced it had plans to develop live-action film and TV initiatives based mostly on Payday in February 2023. The studio said it had partnered with the Los Angeles-based Stockholm Syndrome on the time, however with the announcement of its new partnership with Vice right now, it appears these plans probably fizzled out.
Though it’s presently unclear how future, non-game Payday tales will play out, present CEO Adolf Kristjansson provided his personal feedback as half of right now’s information: “Our objective is to develop PAYDAY from a recreation right into a full leisure platform, proudly owning the heisting style. PAYDAY is the cornerstone franchise for Starbreeze, and we’re extremely selective about companions who can broaden its universe past video games. VICE Studios is the proper associate for this venture, combining artistic ambition with the manufacturing functionality that feels genuine to PAYDAY.”
Whereas Vice and Starbreeze work out the following steps for Payday to strive one thing new, followers of the video games are largely nonetheless ready for a brand new entry after Payday 3 did not impress. In keeping with SteamDB, the third mainline heist recreation has struggled to achieve a concurrent participant depend higher than 1,000 for the final two years. Regardless of launching practically 13 years in the past, Payday 2’s current 24-hour peak sits at 23,515.
Whereas we anticipate extra Payday to return collectively, you possibly can learn our recreation evaluations for Payday 1, 2, and 3. You can even examine current adjustments at Starbreeze that resulted in layoffs and the cancellation of a co-op Dungeons & Dragons recreation.
Michael Cripe is a contract author with IGN. He is finest identified for his work at websites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure you give him a comply with on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).