Payday 2 developer Overkill has apologized for its unpopular new microtransactions policy in a Steam community post by Almir Listo that manages to wring its hands just enough to deflect attention from the fact that nothing has actually changed.
Listo apologizes for “all the distress we’ve caused the past few weeks” without offering even a modicum of hope for players still nursing wounds over the sudden turn to microtransactions within Payday 2 via The Black Market update. Though he admits that Overkill “screwed up,” he seems to be under the impression that betraying consumer trust is secondary to how the situation was advertised.
A YouTube video featuring Almir and three of the volunteer moderators has been released, alongside promises to interact more with their community. Eight members of the development team will start posting on the forums, for some reason, and one of the more prolific Payday 2 modders will be consulted, to some extent, at some unspecified point in the future.
Listo goes on to confirm addition voice-over work for characters in the game, and advertise an additional “B-Sides” Soundtrack releasing in December. There’s also a bit about testing the merits of Payday 2 tournaments at DreamHack. Aside from being wholly irrelevant to the situation at hand, it inadvertently shows how quick Overkill is to dismiss the core concerns of their player base.
The message is as hollow as the original claims that microtransactions wouldn’t enter the mix to begin with. And while it’s clear the wallet sifting is here to stay, at least you’ll be able to talk to eight of the developers about it. Just don’t expect an answer or, you know, for anything to change.
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