In a surprise announcement on Wednesday, Remedy Entertainment and Rockstar Games revealed that both the companies have signed an agreement to remake the first two Max Payne games for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
As per the agreement, Remedy will handle the development of both the remakes while Rockstar will finance the projects. Remedy promises that the final product “….will be in line with a typical Remedy AAA-game production.”
The remakes will be developed on Remedy’s own Northlight game engine, the same game engine that was used in Remedy’s previous title — Control, and is currently used in the upcoming Alan Wake 2.
The original Max Payne 1 and Max Payne 2 were developed by Remedy Entertainment in the early 2000s (2001 and 2003 respectively) and Rockstar handled the publishing. While the final game of the series, Max Payne 3 was developed by Rockstar in 2012.
“We were thrilled when our long-time friends at Remedy approached us about remaking the original Max Payne games,” said Rockstar founder Sam Houser. “We are massive fans of the work the Remedy team has created over the years and we can’t wait to play these new versions,” said Remedy CEO Tero Virtala.
Further, he added:
“Max Payne has always held a special place in the hearts of everyone at Remedy, and we know the millions of fans worldwide feel the same.”.
The team is excited to “bring the story, action, and atmosphere of the original Max Payne games back to players in new ways.”
With Remedy’s announcement and Rockstar’s AAA financing, the remake this time looks more like a legit full remake rather than the disaster remake that the GTA series had in 2021.
Given Remedy’s Northlight game engine capabilities in Control, the remake of both Max Payne 1 and Max Payne 2 will give a new life to the beloved life series and might as well push Rockstar to develop a sequel (or prequel?) of the series.
