Payday 2 fans reacted with outrage earlier this month when developer Overkill Software released a “Black Market Update” for the game that added microtransactions. While many players objected to idea of having microtransactions at all, the real sticking point was the introduction of in-game safes that can only be opened with a special drill that must be bought with real money. The safes contain unique weapon skins that can have high quality mods and stats attached to them, meaning that players can effectively pay real money for better gear, a mechanic that many gamers refer to as “pay-to-win.”

Overkill has defended its choice to add microtransactions to the game, but in a recent Ask Me Anything (AMA) on Reddit, Payday 2 producer Almir Listo fended off numerous angry fans who continued to criticize the move.

“How could you possibly think adding stats to weapon skins, making the undesired microtransactions pay to win, was a good idea and healthy for the game’s future?” one Redditor asked. “When are they being removed (say they aren’t if you don’t intend to)?”

“Why was the Black Market added day 1 of crimefest?” asked another Redditor. “It set the tone for the entire event, and made everything seem like an appeasement after a giant slap in the face. Why would you add a feature that had appeared to have no inherently free features on day 1, then wait until day 6 to make it a somewhat free feature? Pulling this from your advertisement from Road to Crimefest: “Every feature that is unlocked during Crimefest is released for free for the entire community of Payday 2.”

All of Listo’s responses on the Reddit thread received a significant number of downvotes (meaning other users rated his comments negatively), which shows that the community is not pleased that the developers are sticking with the microtransactions.

“We believe it isn’t Pay-2-Win, as we balance the game around the base game, not on any DLC you might own or any stat boost you might have,” Listo said in one response, which is currently sitting at -793 points on Reddit. “The income we get from the sales connected to the Black Market will actually help us stabilize the game’s future so we can continue working on it as hard as we are working on it today.”

Even the AMA thread itself received a large number of downvotes from angry fans, and the moderators of the Payday subreddit were forced to pin it to the top of the site in order to keep it visible, as low-rated threads are usually hidden.

Screenshot via OverkillSoftware.com