Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser blames himself for Max Payne 3 – “a large amount of that failure was on me”
Dan Houser, Rockstar co-founder and lead writer of Max Payne 3, says he takes much of the responsibility for the game’s failure to meet expectations. He enjoyed shaping it as a linear, 12-hour “digital noir” experience, but said many players missed the writing of original creator Sam Lake.
The game was critically acclaimed, and its visual style and gunplay drew both praise and criticism. Take-Two described sales as lower than expected; the shortfall contributed mainly to a $110 million loss in that financial quarter. Remedy and Rockstar later reunited to remake the first two Max Payne games, which Remedy said had entered full production.
- Dan Houser says he bears much of the blame for Max Payne 3’s shortcomings.
- Take-Two linked lower-than-expected sales to a $110 million quarterly loss.
- Remedy and Rockstar are remaking the first two Max Payne games.
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Max Payne is a video game series about a former New York detective drawn into violent criminal plots. The first two games were made by Finnish studio Remedy Entertainment, with Sam Lake writing them; Rockstar Games took over development for the third instalment.
Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser was the lead writer on the third game, which told a self-contained story in a linear, film-like style. Its reception was mixed: critics praised aspects of its presentation and action, while some players felt it lacked the writing associated with Lake’s earlier games.
The series matters to both studios: Remedy created it, and Rockstar developed the third game. The companies later worked together again on remakes of the first two games, bringing the series back to its original stories and characters.