Payday 3 gets crew shift as director steps down

Starbreeze is giving Payday 3 a regime change ahead of its one-year anniversary. The studio recently announced game director Miodrag Kovačević will no longer lead its live-service crime game.

According to Starbreeze, Kovačević will "step away from his role...and refocus his efforts as a designer elsewhere in the project."

While the studio looks for someone to take on long-term director duties, Payday 3's "creative force" will be temporarily steered by lead producer Andreas Penninger and global brand director Almir Listo.

As Listo noted, he and Penninger have been at Starbreeze for 12 years and worked on Payday 2. Discussing the future, Listo said he was "thrilled about the upcoming content we are preparing for you all!"

The tumultuous, ongoing Payday 3 saga

Payday 3 debuted in September last year but has struggled to make headway. The multiplayer shooter faced server issues at launch but still opened to 1.3 million overall players.

Months later, Starbreeze said the game had massively underperformed. The situation resulted in CEO Tobias Sjögren being ousted from the company he once helped revitalize in March.

The studio launched Operation Medic Bag in May, which ushered in new features in a bid to revive the experience. Starbreeze is currently keeping quiet as to how its second year of Payday 3 content will take shape.