Summary
The remakes of the first twoMax Paynegames have a budget on par with that ofAlan Wake 2, Remedy Entertainment has revealed. This insight into the much-anticipatedMax Payneproject has been shared along with a new status update on its progress.
The Finnish developer originallyannounced the remakes ofMax Payne 1 and 2in April 2022. Back then, the project was described as still being in a concept stage, which started as soon as Rockstar, the owner of the IP, agreed to finance its development.
And while Remedy has been describing the upcoming reimaginings as a AAA initiative from day one, the studio has now shared some new insight into the exact size of the budget that Rockstar had approved. As part of Remedy’s latest financialreportfor the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2023, the company revealed that theMax Payneremakes have been treated to a “similar development budget asAlan Wake 2.”
Max Payne Remakes Will Cost Around $55 Million to Make
According to recent analyst estimates, the totaldevelopment costs ofAlan Wake 2have been in the ballpark of $75 million. However, that figure also includes marketing expenses, which are projected to have been around $21.5 million. Remedy’s latest financial report hence implies that Rockstar earmarked roughly $55 million for the development of theMax Payneremakes.
While there is no doubt that a triple-A release of this sort will also have a sizable marketing budget, Remedy’sAlan Wake 2comparison likely didn’t account for it. That’s because Rockstar is the one who will be publishing the remakes, with the implication being that theGTAmaker will be handling all related marketing costs directly, making them not part of Remedy’s stated project budget. The studio previously confirmed that the two reimaginings are planned to be released as a single game, which made many fanshopeful that theMax Payneremakes would offer great value for money.
Max Payne Remakes Likely To Enter Active Development Soon
Remedy’s latest earnings report also offered yet anotherupdate on the status of theMax Payneremakes. The Finnish studio said that its team has made “considerable progress” on the upcoming games throughout 2023, and that it expects them to “advance to the next stages of development” together withCondorandControl 2in the first half of 2024. Back in October, Remedy said that theMax Payneremakes have entered pre-production, so this latest update implies that the games are finally on the verge of starting active development no later than early summer 2024. Between that and the studio’s past development estimates, a late 2026 or early 2027 release seems to be on the cards for theMax Payneremakes, assuming no major delays take place.
Max Payne
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Max Payne is a man with nothing to lose in the violent, cold urban night. A fugitive undercover cop framed for murder, hunted by cops and the mob, Max is a man with his back against the wall, fighting a battle he cannot hope to win. Max Payne is a relentless story-driven game about a man on the edge, fighting to clear his name while struggling to uncover the truth about his slain family amongst a myriad of plot-twists and twisted thugs in the gritty bowels of New York during the century’s worst blizzard.The groundbreaking original cinematic action-shooter, Max Payne introduced the concept of Bullet Time® in videogames. Through its stylish slow-motion gunplay combined with a dark and twisted story, Max Payne redefined the action-shooter genre.
