OUR community

“PAYDAY really is a community-driven game”

For those of you who don’t know you already, who are you?
My name is Troy, also known online as Red Archer Live. I’m a YouTuber and a Twitch streamer who loves playing games, in particular games from the PAYDAY franchise! I’ve been doing YouTube now for over 7 years, and Twitch for a little over a year.

Why do you play PAYDAY?
Well, I first picked PAYDAY 2 up back in 2014 on the Xbox 360. I’d read about it and it sounded like the kind of game I’d love, especially whilst still riding on the highs of the heists in the recently-released GTA 5. To see that be not just a feature of a game, but to be the WHOLE PREMISE... it was so cool to me. The variations, the customisation, the hours of replayable fun with friends – all of these were so cool to me, especially in an age where games are fighting to keep your attention for as long as possible.

How have you and Starbreeze worked together over the years?
I started making fully-fledged PAYDAY 2 content back in
Summer 2017 when the Most Wanted DLC update released on Xbox One and PS4 (although I had done the odd PAYDAY 2 video before that, including a video recreating the Hoxton Breakout Trailer in GTA 5, which until recently had held the title of my most popular video for about 5 years!). From that point onward, it was always a pipe dream to get some form of acknowledgement from the developers to show they had seen what I was doing and enjoyed it. At that time, they’d been using the "Overkill Approved" system to show this acknowledgment, but they sadly never reached out to give me that coveted badge. The reason became clear, however, when they reached out around the time they were bringing PAYDAY 2 back into full development and asked me to step up as an Overkill Partner – something beyond my wildest dreams. Now, being able to have a close dialogue with the developers, have codes to give away to viewers and even an insider scoop on what’s coming up for the game... it’s something I never expected and I’m super grateful to have it. I’m excited to see where it goes in the coming years!

How do you see the weight of having a close dialogue with the community to evolve the game experience over time?
Listening to the community, let alone implementing ideas they offer, is often a vital aspect of a game’s ongoing development that gets squandered by a lot of developers. So many games will say they take player feedback but very rarely implement much based on it. On the other hand, it truly DOES feel as though the developers at Overkill Software are aware that the players’ voice is just as important, if not more so in some ways, than the ideas and opinions of the developers. PAYDAY 2 really is a community-driven game, and it’s not hard to conclude at all that PAYDAY 2 wouldn’t be where it is today, never mind as popular as it is, without the ongoing strong dialogue between the developers and the heisters. It’s awesome to see!

What do you look forward to the most in 2022?
As always, I’m excited to see new content being added to PAYDAY 2 (on PC and, if at all possible, Consoles!)... but I think what I’m REALLY looking forward to is news regarding PAYDAY 3. There’ve been whispers about it for years now, but in 2021 we’ve finally started to get proper chunks of information. With that 2023 release date creeping up on us, I think 2022 is about to be a BIG year for PAYDAY 3 news – and I’m really excited for it!