Payday 2 Crimewave Edition Interview: The Ultimate Heist Experience for PS4 and Xbox One

In this season of heists and robberies (among video games of course), it’s easy to forget about perhaps the most definitive heisting experience of the past several years – Overkill’s Payday 2. The game is returning this June as Payday 2: Crimewave Edition and will include add-ons and features from the PC version. The question remains though – will it be able to provide enough content to match up with Grand Theft Auto Online’s Heists? Will it provide enough incentive for previous gen players to heist on the Xbox One and PS4?

GamingBolt had a chance to speak to producer Almir Listo about the various graphical improvements, content and whether there is other content to look forward to aside from the add-on content.

"The reason why we aren’t developing PAYDAY 3 right now is because we’re not done with PAYDAY 2 yet. Making a game is hard, and many games that are made only realize a vertical slice of its actual potential."

Rashid K. Sayed: Let us get the obvious question out of the way. Why are you guys not developing Payday 3?

Almir Listo: Hey! Woah, right to the point! I like it! The reason why we aren’t developing PAYDAY 3 right now is because we’re not done with PAYDAY 2 yet. Making a game is hard, and many games that are made only realize a vertical slice of its actual potential. With PAYDAY 2, we released the game and have been continuing to modify it, adding free content and paid DLC since release.

More than 50 updates later, I think it’s safe to say that PAYDAY 2 today is something much more fun, interesting and challenging than it was at release. People bought our game and to honor their purchase, we want to give them as much content as we possibly can before moving on to the next project.

Rashid K. Sayed: Can you talk about the enhanced features and bonus content that the Crimewave Edition will offer?

Almir Listo: I can. The Crimewave Edition is going to be the ultimate heist experience on the next gen consoles. Both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 heisters will be able to play PAYDAY 2 with more content, more heists, characters, weapons and more. We’ve made technical updates as well – framerate is up, 1080p resolution, better textures and more. On day 1, plenty of DLC available on the PC is included in the Crimewave Edition for a very sweet deal. We hope our console community is as excited for this as we are.

Rashid K. Sayed: Other than the obvious jump in visuals, why should someone who has already played PayDay 2 buy the Crimewave Edition?

Almir Listo: The Crimewave Edition offers so much more than was previously available on the last generation of consoles. For those who are ready to make the transition to the new generation, our advice is to pick it up. We’re confident you won’t regret it.

Rashid K. Sayed: Can you share tech details about the engine in terms of number of simultaneous light sources, Parallax Occlusion Mapping etc?

Almir Listo: We’d rather keep it a secret for release.

"The Xbox One has many features that we’re excited for and that will make PAYDAY 2: Crimewave Edition an awesome game to play together with your crew."

Rashid K. Sayed: Along with the previously released DLC, what else can we expect to see from Crimewave Edition in terms of extra content? Will any of it fundamentally change the gameplay?

Almir Listo: We think that new heisters and old heisters alike want to try the original PAYDAY 2 experience. Therefore, we’ve made as few changes to the original formula that we could, focusing on making as much extra content available as possible.

Rashid K. Sayed: Although not explicitly marketed as such, Crimewave Edition is a remastered edition for the new consoles. Last year we saw The Last of Us Remastered on the PS4 and surprisingly it was a massive success but then it had a lot of marketing and hype behind it. Do you think there is a chance that the Crimewave Edition may backfire?

Almir Listo: No.

Rashid K. Sayed: Will you be able to confirm the resolution and frame rate that the PS4 and Xbox One versions are running at?

Almir Listo: Resolution will be 1080p and framerate will be as good as we can get it – we’re still in development and are currently performing tests to see how far we can take it.

Rashid K. Sayed: If you guys are not targeting 60 FPS, is there a specific reason behind the same?

Almir Listo: We’re trying to go as far we can. With every new platform, there are technical challenges that we need to address. We’re confident it’s going to be a smooth experience – heisters from the last generation will see the difference.

Rashid K. Sayed: The eSRAM is a known culprit that limits asset heavy games to run in full HD resolution on the Xbox One. How did you approach this situation while developing the Xbox One version?

Almir Listo: I can’t go into specifics, as with any new platform you develop a game to you’re bound to face new challenges. The Xbox One has many features that we’re excited for and that will make PAYDAY 2: Crimewave Edition an awesome game to play together with your crew.

"We’re focusing on the core experience of the first person shooter gameplay that makes PAYDAY 2 what it is. As I said earlier, our aim is to keep the core experience as close as possible to what people expect."

Rashid K. Sayed: Are you using the Xbox One Kinect or PS4’s touch pad in any way to further enhance gameplay mechanics?

Almir Listo: We’re focusing on the core experience of the first person shooter gameplay that makes PAYDAY 2 what it is. As I said earlier, our aim is to keep the core experience as close as possible to what people expect. If the Xbox One community think we should add something post release, we’ll definitely listen and see if it’s possible on our end.

Rashid K. Sayed: Out of interest, since 80% of Payday 2 sales were digital, are there any plans to have box releases for Payday 2: Crimewave Edition?

Almir Listo: We were humbled by the support from our digital heisters. PAYDAY 2: Crimewave Edition is going to have both a boxed and a digital release though.

Rashid K. Sayed: Like Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, CrimewaveEdition won’t be out on PC. Wouldn’t updated visuals and a compilation style package appeal to PC gamers too?

Almir Listo: I think our PC community is doing just fine.

Rashid K. Sayed: Microsoft released the latest SDK update which has allowed developers to use extra CPU processing power. Are you planning to use that in the Xbox One version?

Almir Listo: As developers we’re excited with the new features that the Xbox One brings to the table. Any update for the SDK will most likely benefit us in one way or another.

Rashid K. Sayed: What is next for Starbreeze after Payday 2: Crimewave Edition? Payday 3, I suppose?

Almir Listo: Ha! You wish! Actually, we’re doing OVERKILL’s The Walking Dead together with Robert Kirkman and then we also have our sci-fi co-op FPS STORM down the line. We like to keep ourselves busy.

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