Payday: The Heist is free on Steam for the next 24 hours

Payday: The Heist

Update: The promotion has started. Head here to grab your free copy of Payday: The Heist. You'll be able to add it to your Steam account, for nothing, until 10am PDT tomorrow, October 17.

Original: To celebrate three years of the Payday franchise, developer Overkill Software is making the original Payday: The Heist free—but only for a day.

The third anniversary freebies have included a Golden AK, the Old Hoxton character pack DLC, and a mask from Bain. For those of you who don't already have Payday: The Heist, however, the reward for hitting 1.05 million members in the Payday 2 Steam Group is the most significant, because it means the game will be completely free on Steam, for a 24-hour period beginning at 10 am PDT on October 16.

"This was going to happen on the 18th originally but since you guys did such an awesome job we want to give you the reward as soon as possible," Overkill Producer Almir Listo wrote. "Tell your friends and family that they can download Payday: The Heist for free on Thursday morning of October 16th at 10AM Pacific. We'll give out clear instructions on how to download it come Thursday."

That's the big news from a practical perspective, but that's not all: Reaching 1.5 million members in the Payday 2 Steam group means that Secret Stuff, represented by a winking smiley, has also been unlocked. Overkill is keeping the final unlock a secret but it will "completely overkill," according to the CrimeFest chart, and free to all members of the community when it's ready.

Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

Latest in Action
Assassin's Creed Shadows change seasons - An upper-body shot of Yasuke looking cheerfully up into the distance.
Assassin's Creed Shadows puts up the 'second highest day-one sales revenue in Assassin's Creed franchise history'
A shock trap transformed into a Lego brick in Monster Hunter Wilds.
A modder keeps turning Monster Hunter traps into Lego bricks so that the monsters will know true pain, and they've just done it again
Nova, a hero from Marvel Comics, smolders at the camera while surrounded by flames.
The team behind Shredder's Revenge has a Marvel beat 'em up on the way with a whopping 15 characters and unsurprisingly gorgeous pixel art
The First Berserker: Khazan tips - Khazan
10 The First Berserker: Khazan tips to smash your foes
Crysis hero Prophet running down a beach while under fire
Crysis Remastered Trilogy activates maximum value mode as upgraded version of the legendary, hardware-crushing FPS series is currently 60% off
Phantom Blade Zero
Chinese action game Phantom Blade Zero didn't click for me until I realized its deep commitment to wuxia film authenticity meant I had to relearn how swords work
Latest in News
A screenshot from SaGa Frontier 2, showing one of the protagonists wandering through a quaint fantasy village
One of Square Enix' most underrated PlayStation-era JRPGs just shadow dropped on Steam
The titular character from Princess Mononoke is depicted riding the wolf goddess Moro and carrying a spear.
Studio Ghibli AI image trend floods social media, cheered on by OpenAI and denounced by critics as an insult to Hayao Miyazaki
Marvel Rivals tier list - Wolverine
Marvel Rivals director says a future patch will reduce the shooter's insatiable hunger for RAM: 'It's a very big problem'
Hogwarts Legacy potions professor holding a potion
An unannounced Hogwarts Legacy expansion and 'definitive edition' have reportedly been cancelled
Story of Seasons - A cahacter in a purple tuxedo stands outside in a town square talking to the player
Story of Seasons is doing another Harvest Moon remake and it might be the best the series has ever looked
Assassin's Creed Shadows change seasons - An upper-body shot of Yasuke looking cheerfully up into the distance.
Assassin's Creed Shadows puts up the 'second highest day-one sales revenue in Assassin's Creed franchise history'