Payday 2 developer Starbreeze has stepped forward to calm a storm of criticism after a controversial price adjustment left fans furious. Earlier this month, the studio quietly increased the price of the massive Infamous Collection DLC bundle from $100 to $150 – a sharp 50% hike – only weeks before launching a brand-new subscription service. 
Many players felt the move was a sneaky tactic, coming across as a hidden penalty for those who didn’t want to subscribe.
The new subscription itself was marketed as a convenient way for newcomers and longtime fans to unlock Payday 2’s full breadth of content. For $4.99 per month – or $19.99 for six months – players would gain access to over 65 DLC packs including heists, weapons, and cosmetics. Starbreeze pitched it as an opportunity to “explore Payday 2’s massive content library at their own pace” with the ability to cancel at any time via Steam. On paper, it looked like a generous offer. In practice, however, the timing of the subscription alongside the bundle’s price increase soured the entire announcement.
Community members were quick to accuse Starbreeze of trying to “slip the hike under the radar,” igniting angry discussions across forums and social media. The backlash grew intense enough that Gustav Nisser, Starbreeze’s head of commercial, admitted in an interview with GameDeveloper that the studio had “dropped the ball on coordinating internally and communicating with our community properly.” He openly acknowledged that the criticism was justified and that the optics of the situation were disastrous. “We agree with the community, we messed up on this one, and we have reverted the price on the bundle effective immediately,” Nisser said.
Starbreeze further explained that the Infamous Collection operates differently than a standard bundle, since it only charges players for items they do not already own and applies additional discounts where relevant. In other words, the effective cost for each individual might vary. Still, the quiet timing of the increase – just before launching a subscription that offered the same content at a fraction of the upfront cost – came across as misleading to many players.
On X (formerly Twitter), the studio addressed fans directly: “Heisters – we’ve seen the feedback on the Infamy Collection pricing change that happened earlier this month, and have investigated. The pricing has been reverted to where it should be, and we apologize for this error.” A similar sentiment was echoed on Reddit, where community representative Haua admitted that although the company insisted it was an error, the damage to trust was undeniable. “Regardless, the damage has been done, and we hope that with this adjustment back, anyone who was hoping to get DLC can do so through the collection. We do appreciate everyone who flagged the issue, and kept talking about it!”
As of now, Steam.db records confirm that the price has returned to its former $100 mark. However, one lingering question remains: will players who unknowingly paid the inflated $150 price be refunded? Starbreeze has yet to clarify. For many, the real issue is not simply the money but the perception that transparency was missing from the process. In the world of live service games – where player loyalty is fragile and competition is fierce – regaining trust may take more than a price rollback. Starbreeze must now prove it values its community not just in words, but in consistent, clear actions going forward.
1 comment
bro imagine buying it for 150 then seeing it drop next week, pain