•Max Payne 3, which launched in 2012 to positive reviews from most critics, did not sell nearly as well as other Rockstar titles. According to former Rockstar Games vice president and lead writer Dan Houser, the game’s commercial shortfall is mostly his fault.
In a new wide-ranging interview with IGN, In a new wide-ranging interview with IGN,, Houser discussed his time working on franchises like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption while at Rockstar Games. He also spoke about the less successful third-person shooter, Max Payne 3.
Unlike the previous two entries, which were developed by Remedy and written by Sam Lake, Max Payne 3 was developed entirely by Rockstar and primarily written by Houser. It moved the series to the sun-soaked favelas of Brazil and adopted a more neo-noir style.
“It was a linear game, so it was a little different from writing an open-world game, a little more structured,” said Houser.
“I really enjoyed that as an experience. I loved what we did design-wise, the way the game didn’t have loads, the way it felt like a 12-hour movie, some of the visual stuff we did with words on screen. I felt we were creating a really cool digital noir experience, and the consensus at the time was that people hated it. So I got that completely wrong,” admitted Houser.
“I know Sam Lake [creator of Max Payne] well, and he’s a very good guy and really talented,” said Houser.
“I thought we’d done a good job of doing another Max Payne game. Some people liked it; lots didn’t. So we got it wrong, or I got it wrong. I failed. My bit was not a success. The game is beautifully made, and it wasn’t as successful as it should have been. So I would say a large amount of that failure was on me as one of the people making the decisions and also as the writer, when people really missed [Lake’s] writing.”
Meanwhile, Remedy and Rockstar have teamed up to remake the first two Max Payne games as a single title, with Remedy developing the new entry using its own tech and Rockstar publishing it.
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