PAYDAY 3: Free weekend on Steam until November 9, base game 70% off

Starbreeze Entertainment is running a free weekend for PAYDAY 3 on Steam. It opened on November 5 at 19:00 CET, paired with a sale that takes 70 percent off the base game, which now costs $8.99 instead of $29.99.

The end time differs between sources: Starbreeze's Steam posts of November 3 say the free weekend closes on November 9 at 18:00 CET / 09:00 PST, while the official PAYDAY site lists 19:00 CET for Steam. The sale itself runs longer; according to the official site it lasts on Steam until November 12. Progress made during the free weekend stays on the account, including for players who buy the game later.

What new and returning players find

In its announcement "Play PAYDAY 3 for FREE this Weekend!" Starbreeze lists what has changed over three years of updates: all previously paid DLC heists became free, there is a new Campaign Mode, the CRIME.NET server browser has returned, and the skill and armor systems were rebuilt as Skills 2.0 and Armor 2.0. In August Starbreeze said it would delist all paid heist DLCs from all storefronts on August 25 2026, adding that existing owners would not lose access.

The most recent content arrived with Update 3.10 on October 26, which according to the changelog on the official site brought a new Crimebond, the Feeding Frenzy heist and changes to Arges perks. The same update removed a hurdle at launch: new players no longer need to create a Nebula account with an email address. A "headless" account is now created automatically and tied to the platform account. A manually created Nebula account is still needed for extras such as cross-platform progression.

On top of the free weekend, a Double Infamy Event runs until November 9, announced in a Steam post on November 5. It raises the pace at which Infamy, and with it skill points, is earned. Players already at the maximum Infamy level earn Renown instead and can spend it to steal items from Crimebonds.

Reviews and player numbers

Steam reviews are arriving much faster than usual: 329 new reviews in 18 hours, a pace of about 439 per day against an average of 59 per day since release. Of these new reviews, 55 percent are positive. The overall score remains Mixed at 46 percent positive out of 67,603 reviews.

On November 8 the game had 18,028 concurrent players on Steam, rank 92 on the most-played chart. SteamDB lists an all-time peak of 77,938 players on 21 September 2023; an older SteamDB snapshot showed 874 players.

The background is a difficult run for Starbreeze. PC Gamer reported that the studio imposed layoffs, cancelled at least one project and handed Payday 2 off to a different developer. PCGamesN called the third-anniversary update, released on 22 September 2026 as Update 3.9, Starbreeze's "'Hail Mary' moment" and "possibly its last chance to sink or swim". The outlet also reported Starbreeze admitting that "the story isn't really that good for Payday 3".

For anyone curious, the weekend is a low-risk way to judge the current state of the game, since progress carries over. Those who want to keep playing have until November 12 to buy at $8.99. DLC collectors can add the Geared Up Bundle with eleven weapon and cosmetic packs at an extra 10 percent off. On Xbox, the game is part of this weekend's Free Play Days for Game Pass Ultimate, Premium and Essential members. Separately, Fast Travel Games has released the VR spin-off PAYDAY: Aces High on SteamVR, and PAYDAY 3 owners get a 10 percent discount on it until 31 December 2026.