Remedy and Rockstar have had a great working relation in the past as the company has published all Max Payne games to date and even helped with development. Same will be the case here with Rockstar publishing the Max Payne remakes and Remedy handling the actual development. Rockstar will also be funding the game and Remedy says the budget will be “in line with a typical Remedy AAA-game production”. This comes as part of a new agreement signed between the two companies. For those who don’t know, Epic Games actually signed on as a publisher for Remedy Entertainment back in 2020 and promised full creative freedom to the developer, but there must have been some conflicts with remaking Max Payne under Epic as Rockstar was the original publisher and likely did not want to hand away the rights. It should be noted that after making Max Payne 1 in 2001 and Max Payne 2 in 2003, Remedy actually sold the rights to the Max Payne IP to Take-Two Interactive, who owns Rockstar. That’s why Rockstar developed (and published) Max Payne 3 without Remedy’s direct involvement, though Remedy did offer its blessing and supervision towards the final stages of development. Therefore, it makes sense why a contractual obligation with Epic probably doesn’t limit Remedy from publishing with Rockstar, since they literally own the franchise.
Further details
Max Payne 1 and 2 will be remade separately but released as a single title containing both games. Remedy will be using its latest Northlight engine, the same engine that Control and Quantum Break are built on. Since this is a proper remake of not one but two games, and currently in the “concept development stage”, it will be a long time before we see it materialize. That reflects the platform choice made by Remedy for the Max Payne remakes as they will only be released on next-gen consoles, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Remedy says that after all costs and expenses for the game have been recouped by Rockstar, they will have a “royalty opportunity” with Rockstar, which is basically a way of saying that Remedy and Rockstar will share the profits. This is obviously quite exciting news as Max Payne has been a pillar of pop-culture since its inception and has contributed greatly to the gaming industry as a whole by embracing the over-the-top nature of the genre and winking back at the players with that self-awareness. With these two Max Payne remakes, and the upcoming Alan Wake 2 sequel expected to drop in 2023, Remedy has a full plate and with a successful run as of late, we can’t wait to see what Remedy has in store for the future.
