SBZ Partners are beta testing PD3 updates and shaping the future of the game. Thoughts?

[Undefined]

Personally, I'm not a fan of this.

I think they should be holding open betas and allowing the entire community to chime in.

I think SBZ Partners don't have the best reputation after hyping up PD3 and getting paid to promote a game that was seriously flawed and not very fun in the first place.

Not only that, but one of the criticisms of PD3 is that they kept the community in the dark for over 6 years until about 3 months before release and only allowed "beta testing" 3 days before release. Many people feel a lot of the issues with the game could've (and should've ) been addressed a lot earlier if they hadn't kept the entire community in the dark.

Lastly, if these updates aren't popular among the community, then SBZ would have wasted money and time, and would need to go back to the drawing board (again), which is probably the last thing they need right now (and who knows if they can even afford to continue screwing up).

So yeah, to sum it up, don't make the mistake of keeping the community out of the loop and showing favoritism to paid sponsors. Instead, let the community playtest the new features and give you feedback.

[Tuffcooke]

Hi there. As one of the Starbreeze Partners in question, please allow me to step in add my two cents. I'm happy to answer any questions about the process as far as my NDA allows as well.

1) A few people have mentioned that we are paid to promote the game or receive paid sponsorships. We do not receive monetary gain. The only exception to this, which was publicly disclosed by all partners at the time, was a single payment to stream the 2022 Payday 2 Christmas update. We have never been paid before or after this.

2) As for the bit about partners having a poor reputation for hyping up and promoting Payday 3, I think that's fair. Speaking just for my own part, I have apologized both in videos and on stream for hyping it up so much. On all platforms I am very vocal about my displeasure with the current state of Payday 3 and choices Starbreeze makes in managing it. A lot of our initial hype came from getting to see something shiny and new and in hindsight we obviously made it sound better than it wound up being, because we thought it was better than it wound up being. I have since released not one, but two videos reviewing Payday 3 where I expressly recommend against purchasing it and say no DLC should be purchased for Payday 3 until the prices are changed.

3) Starbreeze is under no obligation to implement our feedback. We often disagree with Starbreeze and even sometimes each other on steps we'd like to see taken for Payday 3. We debate things we'd like to see and things we wouldn't like to see with Starbreeze staff. Just because we say something doesn't mean it makes something. At the end of the day, we suggest and don't have direct control or influence. We do not have a development contract, as somebody mentioned in this thread

[Red Archer Live]

Yeah I should've added that in as Tuff did, I'm well aware that mine + others' videos set up false expectations for the game, and I absolutely hate that. I also agree that YouTubers shouldn't be the be-all-and-end-all of opinions as, as some of y'all have said, what we say won't always reflect what other players say. What I try to do is respond based on my community rather than myself, but it's also important to note that SBZ don't always listen anyway, airing feedback doesn't mean it has to be followed up on. I personally haven't chosen to partake in any of these preview builds as I'm not invested enough right now to be looking at things that the standard player might not see for months - I'd rather only see them when they're about to drop, and just discuss the mechanics before then.

[Nighthawk]

Origineel geplaatst door Red Archer Live:

Yeah I should've added that in as Tuff did, I'm well aware that mine + others' videos set up false expectations for the game, and I absolutely hate that. I also agree that YouTubers shouldn't be the be-all-and-end-all of opinions as, as some of y'all have said, what we say won't always reflect what other players say. What I try to do is respond based on my community rather than myself, but it's also important to note that SBZ don't always listen anyway, airing feedback doesn't mean it has to be followed up on. I personally haven't chosen to partake in any of these preview builds as I'm not invested enough right now to be looking at things that the standard player might not see for months - I'd rather only see them when they're about to drop, and just discuss the mechanics before then.

I was debating responding to this but i held my tongue in case i was wrong that they did sponsor partnered content. However, I might as well ask since it was a point i thought about when i glanced at this thread. Did the partners have to pay your own way to get to sweden and experience payday 3 early or did they pay for you? I can see the reason the international partner not being able to go being either because it was too expensive to justify or they could not renew their passport on short notice. The video below is relevant to that. Also, while it's not directly related to payday 3, they did offer the twitch drops and almir mask codes for partners exclusively to grow their audiences. I'd like to imagine they also gave partners both payday 3 and payday 2 stuff for free like they do for the mods.

Frankly, none of this is worth the pain that the unfortunate launch of payday 3 has brought and nothing less than than the order of thousands of dollars in cash would probably make it worth it for you guys, but I do think it is slightly disingenuous to say that partners have not been compensated outside of one instance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq_Jl3Dr_dg

[animal_PLANET]

I will never believe nor read any reply from a mod here. You are part of SB. You all share the same terrible mentality. Just say what you think the community wants to hear. Right now, thats damage control.

[ﾏｿｿｿ ₒ❤]

i think the forum mod is just doing their job ngl, they're just earning their salary.

i actually respect the mod in this forum for not censoring criticisms, fr.

destiny 2 mod will fcking ban you for making a joke about bungie firing composer after missing their revenue projection and delete anything releated to bugs in-game.

[Espio]

Origineel geplaatst door Tuffcooke:

2) As for the bit about partners having a poor reputation for hyping up and promoting Payday 3, I think that's fair. Speaking just for my own part, I have apologized both in videos and on stream for hyping it up so much. On all platforms I am very vocal about my displeasure with the current state of Payday 3 and choices Starbreeze makes in managing it. A lot of our initial hype came from getting to see something shiny and new and in hindsight we obviously made it sound better than it wound up being, because we thought it was better than it wound up being. I have since released not one, but two videos reviewing Payday 3 where I expressly recommend against purchasing it and say no DLC should be purchased for Payday 3 until the prices are changed.

So don't hype.

Origineel geplaatst door Red Archer Live:

Yeah I should've added that in as Tuff did, I'm well aware that mine + others' videos set up false expectations for the game,

So don't hype.

Origineel geplaatst door Red Archer Live:

and I absolutely hate that

No you don't, if you did you'd move on and branch out far, *far* away from ever even thinking about interacting with SBZ again. Being a SBZ partner just before Payday 3 released clearly means nothing but deceiving viewer audiences into a false pit of hope. This was not unique to partners, big content creators did the same thing and were paid to trick their audiences into buying. Isn't no way you can convince me otherwise, a company does not hand out free ♥♥♥♥ for good will and cookie points.

This is coming off as slightly aggressive, but I've got nothing holding back how I want to criticize SBZ and how it does absolutely ♥♥♥♥♥♥ business practices. Or rather how it has been doing those practices over the years.

To OP: Nah, highly doubt they're factoring in whatever partners are saying. Just ignoring and doing whatever they feel like regardless. Feedback be damned.

[Zappron]

damn the big boy club is in town