After a rocky closed beta and a subsequent shutdown in 2019, Payday: Crime War is looking to make a return. The mobile spin-off recently entered a new licensing deal with PopReach – a publisher focused on free-to-play mobile games. Payday: Crime War is expected to soft launch by the end of the year, with a global release in 2022.
As part of the deal, Starbreeze has sold over the complete Payday: Crime War source code in exchange for $250 thousand. The developer will then earn back royalties based on the game's performance. That sounds like a smart move by PopReach – because the game was less than stellar back in 2018.
“It’s an exciting time for all of us at Starbreeze, during the last month we’ve changed the trajectory for the company by securing deals around the PAYDAY IP," Tobias Sjögren, CEO of Starbreeze, said. "We look forward to working with PopReach to ensure that PAYDAY Crime War brings the same action-packed gameplay our players and community already know and love to mobile devices. PopReach has a proven track record and has successfully developed and launched free-to-play mobile titles based on well-known IP's, and our collaboration will be an important component of our strategy to further expand the PAYDAY franchise."
Details about how Payday: Crime War will fix the issues of its past were left out of the announcement. For now, it's still billed as an "all-action 4v4 shooter pitting cops against heisters." It will include a few popular maps, weapons, and masks from the PC games, and will be based on a free-to-play business model.
"Obtaining the license rights and source code to PAYDAY Crime War is a massive opportunity that fits well within our strategy of acquiring proven game franchises with established product market fit, with a large built-in audience and deep universe to draw from, including an extensive pipeline of more than 70 PAYDAY 2 content updates years in the making," said Jon Walsh, CEO of PopReach. "We believe that PAYDAY Crime War has the potential to generate substantial revenue for PopReach, given the longstanding success of the franchise, and the fact that it will be the first mobile free-to-play PAYDAY game."