We're not "scared" of GTA Heists or Battlefield Hardline, says Payday producer
The success of GTA Heists and Battlefield Hardline isn't putting pressure on Overkill as it prepares to release Payday 2: Crimewatch Edition.
"We don't want to do Payday 3 and Payday 4 and Payday 5: Advanced Combat or whatever. We want to continue pushing out stuff for Payday 2 for those that already bought into it."
While GTA Online's Heists and Battlefield Hardline have already released this year, the makers of Payday 2: Crimewave Edition are not intimidated by the success of rivals in the growing market for crime-sim shooters.
Overkill's re-release of Payday 2 is due in June, and promises over a year's worth of content in a better-looking package on PS4 and Xbox One. According to producer Almir Listo, there's no pressure in going up against blockbuster brands with very similar content.
"We're not in a position any more where we have to be scared," he told VG247. "We have our community and we know what they want and this just makes the heists genre more popular."
"I'm looking forward to GTA Heists on PC and seeing what Hardline has got," he added. "From our perspective we just welcome the challenge. Any competition can only make our game better. We will of course play their games and have a lot of fun and we'll learn from them, what they did good and what they could have done better."
The original Payday: The Heist was released the same year GTA 5 was officially announced, and way before Battlefield Hardline was anywhere near public knowledge. For Listo, it acted as proof that the Hollywood idea of a bank robbery could make for great gameplay.
"Payday proved that there are players out there who love to experience that crime fantasy," he said. "That's one of the reason why we've seen other heist games pop up. If anyone knows how difficult it is to make a great heist game it's us so we wish them the best of luck."
Overkill has been in it for the long-term particularly with Payday 2, a game that has had over 50 updates since release and is promised to be supported for at least another two years.
"We don't want to do Payday 3 and Payday 4 and Payday 5: Advanced Combat or whatever. We want to continue pushing out stuff for Payday 2 for those that already bought into it."
It's this dedicated Payday community that is one of the game's biggest strengths, according to Listo, and gives the Overkill team confidence in its upcoming release. The company hasn't only added its own content, but developed crossover material with Hotline Miami, and Keanu Reeves action movie Jon Wick as it expands the Payday universe.
"Thanks to the Payday community, we as a company are in a great spot," he said.
"Financially we have everything secure since we were bought up by Starbreeze. Payday really put us on the map thanks to the community and it meant we can stay independent and focus on our own stuff.
"We do these updates not because we were frantically looking for the next thing to work on, but because we wanted to continue to give the fans something who had already bought into the experience."
Payday 2: Crimewave Edition is out in June on PS4 and Xbox One.