Payday 2 microtransactions

The addition of microtransactions to the cooperative first-person shooter Payday 2 was met with a large amount of backlash and its eventual removal from the game.

Background
Prior to release, the lead designer of the game at developer Overkill Software stated that Payday 2 would not feature any microtransactions, and is quoted bluntly saying "No. No. God I hope not. Never. No."

Overview
On October 15, 2015 as part of Overkill's second annual Crimefest celebration, Overkill announced the addition of safes to the card drop system that contained weapon skins, some of which modified weapon statistics. The safes had to be opened using drills that could only be purchased using real money, which caused a fan backlash against their inclusion. On October 20, 2015, Overkill added the aforementioned drills to the card drop system, but this did nothing to stop the backlash and the studio was criticized for their mismanagement of the controversy and attempts to silence the press.

On November 11, 2015 Overkill announced that the contents of a previously sold DLC investment named the "Completely Overkill Pack" would be a single random skin unique to said pack with a special EXP or Money bonus for the team, despite originally promising that the pack's content would be purely cosmetic. They also announced that seven other DLC packs would be free to purchase for those who owned the pack, but this too was met with criticism against this seemingly unfair revelation, and this included those who purchased the Completely Overkill Pack because its store page claimed it wouldn't contain one of the DLC packs it ultimately had, leaving them feeling short-changed. As a result, Steam community moderators for Payday started a protest against Overkill's mistreatment and abuse of their fans by refusing to moderate the community until they were granted an interview with Almir Listo, the producer of the game.

On May 30, 2016 Overkill announced that parent company Starbreeze Studios had acquired the rights to the Payday franchise from original publisher 505 Games. They then announced that future safes would be completely free to open, killing the microstransactions for good. It was also announced that Payday 3 was now in development. Almir Listo then added a quote said by Chains, a playable character in the game, saying, "As Chains eloquently put it, 'Fuck that broke dick piece of shit drill.'"

On October 6, 2016 Overkill released a trailer for an update titled "Hoxton's Housewarming Party". At the end of it, Aldstone, an in-game character voiced by John Cleese, references the microtransactions by saying "Selling drills on the black market was not the best idea you've ever had now, was it?"