Crossovers and collaborations are a huge part of the PAYDAY franchise, and we’re already thinking about the possibilities that we could see with the upcoming release of PAYDAY 3. It’s not just players who are thinking about potential crossovers, either - even the development team at Starbeeze has them on their minds.

While Starbreeze is keen to ensure that any crossovers remain fitting with the brand and theme of PAYDAY this time around, it hasn’t stopped them from fantasising about what could be. In an interview with GGRecon, Brand Director and Head of Community at Starbreeze, Almir Listo, disclosed what his dream heist would be - and it involves Nic Cage.

• Check out our PAYDAY 3 preview here.

The perfect heist

Listo didn’t mention Nic Cage directly but did explain that a heist based upon the National Treasure licence would be a dream come true for PAYDAY.

"I would love to see us do something in the vein of National Treasure, just a massive explorative venture where the PAYDAY gang do something that is very difficult, but ultimately achieves it,” Listo explains.

He continues, saying that, in an ideal world, the heist would be set over the course of a full week, “I think that would be awesome. It would stretch over seven days - it's a classic in the PAYDAY community, the 'seven-day heist'.”

Of course, the National Treasure movies feature none other than the incredible Nic Cage in their lead role. What’s more, Cage isn’t a stranger to video game adaptations at the moment. He recently appeared on stage at Summer Games Fest, promoting his crossover with Dead By Daylight.

The idea of seeing Nic Cage appear in PAYDAY isn’t even that outlandish, either. PAYDAY 2 previously saw the likes of John Wick make an appearance, so as Listo remarks, “the sky is the limit. It's only a question of what the community wants and what we're able or want to do."

• Will PAYDAY 3 be on Xbox Game Pass? Find out here.

Tempering expectations

In our interview, Listo expanded upon plans for crossovers in PAYDAY 3. While the collaborations in PAYDAY 2 ended up getting a little goofy, that’s not the plan for the new title. “We care about a very important aspect of the player’s feedback, which is to retain the integrity of the brand and IP,” Listo says. “[We want] to focus on the characters that we make and their story - not other people’s or game’s story.”

So, while collaborations are definitely an exciting part of PAYDAY, and will likely come down the line with 3, don’t expect any too soon after launch. That said, we’re secretly holding out that Starbreeze can come through with a collaboration with Nic Cage in the future.