Max Payne 3 Was No Great Success, and Former Rockstar Writer Dan Houser Blames Himself: "I Failed"

Houser Says Many People Have Truly Lost the Writing of Max Payne Creator Sam Lake

Houser says a lot of people really miss the writing of Sam Lake, the creator of Max Payne

Max Payne 3 was released in 2012 and received positive reviews from many critics. But the game didn't sell nearly as well as other Rockstar titles, and for some fans it wasn't the sequel they wanted. According to Dan Houser, former VP of Rockstar Games and lead author, the game's failure is mostly his fault.

In an extensive new interview with IGN, Houser talked about his time working on franchises like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption at Rockstar Games. He also talked about the less successful third-person shooter, Max Payne 3. Unlike the previous two entries, which were developed by Remedy and written by Sam Lake, Max Payne 3 was developed entirely by Rockstar and was primarily written by Houser. He also moved the series to the sun-drenched favelas of Brazil and went with a neo-noir style.

"It was a linear game, so it was a little different from writing an open-world game, a little more structured," Houser said.

"I really enjoyed it as an experience. I loved what we did design-wise, the no-load gameplay, the feel of a 12-hour movie, some of the visual work we did with the words on the screen. I felt like we were creating a really cool digital noir experience, and the consensus at the time was that people hated it. So I was completely wrong." Houser.

While I know some Max Payne fans weren't happy with the change of tone in Max Payne 3, I think it's a great game with incredibly fast and satisfying gameplay and some of the most beautiful third person animations I've ever seen in a shooter. But Max Payne 3's story and overall presentation were its weakest elements. And Hauser seems to agree with me and others who were disappointed by the story, writing, and overall mood of Max Payne 3.

"I know [Max Payne creator] Sam Lake very well, and he's a really nice guy and really talented," Houser said.

"I thought we did a good job doing another Max Payne game. Some people liked it; a lot of people didn't. So we made a mistake, or I made a mistake. I failed. My bit wasn't successful. The game was beautifully made, and it wasn't as successful as it should have been. So I'd say a lot of that failure was on me, as one of the people who wrote that decision."

Meanwhile, Remedy and Rockstar teamed up to remake the first two Max Payne games into a single title, with Remedy developing the new version using its own technology and Rockstar publishing it.

The iconic Grand Theft Auto cover design only exists because of 9/11 and was created at the last minute

The franchise's famous cover design was apparently designed in about 48 hours

GTA 6 Leaker Promises Beat Up With Meme Coin Drop

Cyberleek is promoting chaos in the month leading up to the launch

GTA 6 Leaker Releases Pictures Of Lucia Skydiving Naked To Sell Crypto

If the Cyberleek Dollar continues to rise, Cyberleek is more of a "bare" Lucia

GTA 6 Leaker Threatens Rockstar With Doomsday Scenario If Meme Coin Reaches $30 Million

Cyberleeks is back and wants more money

Rockstar HR was questioned about the "Mole" dispute and the sudden timing of the GTA 6 Dev layoffs at the latest Labor Court hearing.

A young Rockstar employee was exposing union activity to management

Damn, this GTA 6 screenshot looks so good people won't believe it's real

But look closely and it's clear that it's not magic

The famous and innovative Duke Nochem, designer of the earthquake level "Levelord", passed away

Some of Sony's first-person games have been removed from the PlayStation Store

Avatar: Seven Heavens, please don't turn my new daddy into a secret villain

Xbox Labs is a big announcement about artificial intelligence that has lost the word AI

Oh my god, the Skydance merger killed South Park Discord

The gorgeous cyberpunk sim Nivalis Nights needs to rest for just a second

ConcernedApe offers more action-RPG gameplay in Haunted Chocolatier: "It's for the people in Stardio Valley who go mining"