'Payday 3' developer Starbreeze apologised for its radio silence after its disastrous launch - but confirmed the first patch update is in the "testing and certification" stage.

The developer has revealed they encountered "critical errors" updating the game shortly after it came out.

In a new blog post, it said: "We know it sucks to keep hearing the same thing.

"The reason it has taken so long to get this first patch ready is very long and complicated, but the short version is that we discovered critical errors with our update pipeline shortly after the game released."

And despite the problems encountered, Starbreeze is still confident it can make the game "the new criminal dawn".

It went on: "Again, we apologise for our silence. We see your frustration and anger, and we can assure you this is not a situation we want to be in.

"The team is working hard on a game that will be supported for years to come and making Payday 3 the new criminal dawn!"

The developer added: "Again, we apologise for our silence. We see your frustration and anger, and we can assure you this is not a situation we want to be in.

"The team is working hard on a game that will be supported for years to come and making Payday 3 the new criminal dawn!"

Starbreeze was forced to issue an apology for the connection problems and bugs that have plagued the game.

The third game in the series launched last month, but many players faced being thrown out of the game altogether, and CEO Tobias Sjögren insisted the team is "working tirelessly" to solve the issues.