Remedy revealed something quite interesting about Max Payne 1&2 Remake, but maybe it’s not so surprising.
As reported by Rockstar Intel, Remedy’s COO Johannes Paloheimo revealed that Remedy is satisfying Rockstar with their work on these remakes so far. In Paloheimo’s words:
“We have a great relationship with Rockstar and our development team is delivering well against the very high expectations set by Rockstar and Remedy on the project.”
Paloheimo discreetly revealed with the slide that is our cover image for this article, that Rockstar is paying for both the development and marketing for Max Payne 1&2 Remake. This is a boon for Remedy, who isn’t getting the financial success they deserve in proportion to the studio’s talent and achievements.
It’s also revealing about Rockstar and their parent company Take-Two Interactive. We are talking about the same Take-Two Interactive who closed the game studios Roll7 and Intercept Games, and then did everything they could to legally delay admitting that they did it.
So, Remedy’s good partner in this initiative is not exactly known to be a champion of game companies or developers. Fortunately for everyone involved, this project has been turning out well so far. Given the Max Payne franchise still has a huge following, and that the market is particularly receptive to remakes and remasters at the moment, this looks like a guaranteed success, and we certainly hope that it turns out that way in the end.
Rockstar will definitely want to do something to clear up their reputation after the botched release of Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition. It took two years for Rockstar to deliver what is at least a fixed version of this release. But if what our research has found turns out to be true, Rockstar may have actually held back those updates. And that move came at the expense of their former partner, developer Grove Street Games.
Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive have also been somewhat messy and inconsistent when it comes to the Max Payne franchise in general. At various times, Max Payne 1 &2 have been delisted from Steam, with no explanation from Rockstar. We know that the current delisting is because Rockstar hopes to replace them with the remaster.
Is it possible that the other times they got delisted, it was because Rockstar was trying to get an earlier remake or remaster off the ground? Knowing Rockstar and Take-Two, they’ll be happy to never really explain it.
Regardless of how you may feel about Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive as companies, we should definitely be cheering on Remedy’s success in this project. Rockstar is not lacking for their own IP, and seeing as they won’t sell it back to Remedy, this project is the only way forward for a real Max Payne revival.
