Max Payne Remake gets update from Remedy following big budget paid by Rockstar

The Max Payne Remake just received another development update from Remedy Entertainment. The Finnish studio shared some new details on the current state of the game’s production. All of this information has come from the quarterly financial statements released today for investors by the company.

Recap of the last update

It was in March this year that Remedy provided its previous game development update on the Max Payne Remake. It is important to know what was revealed then for context when looking at today’s new update further down.

The game company said in March that throughout 2023, the Max Payne team  “made considerable progress”. This was paired with a reveal of the game’s budget size: “a similar development budget as Alan Wake 2.” The award-winning sequel had an estimated development cost of around €50 million.

State of play

Now let’s take a look at what Remedy have revealed on Monday. Inside their Business Review document for January-March 2024, Remedy say the Max Payne 1&2 remake “is expected to move into full production during the second quarter of 2024.” Back in October last year we learned that the project had made its way to the production readiness stage.

Based on Remedy’s transparent development cycle document, this part of production can take around 3-6 months. Evidently, the Max Payne 1&2 remake is on the upper end of time for this part of development. As we’re entering the second quarter of 2024, the game should start full production very soon.

The full production stage of Remedy’s development takes around 200 developers over 1-2 years to reach the Alpha point. This is then followed up by a Beta version lasting 3-6 months with a focus on polishing the game and squashing bugs. Based on the fact the game has gone through each stage on the upper time estimate and has a budget as big as Alan Wake 2, we could see these remakes release in mid-late 2026.

Rockstar’s money comes in

An interesting detail from the Business Review document is that Remedy say “Development fees increased from the comparison period, mainly due to higher development fees from Max Payne 1&2 remake.” As we know, the game has a budget in the same realm as Alan Wake 2.

Something related was also mentioned in March’s Financial Statement. Remedy Entertainment state “The main sources of revenue were development fees from Max Payne 1&2 remake”. Rockstar Games are fully funding this project meaning this is money from Rockstar Games.

The game’s cost appears to have increased over the past year likely to match the scope that Remedy wants for the remakes. Rockstar is then paying all of it in full for them.

Catching up on this year’s news

Just last month, Remedy shared photos of their office which now has new Max Payne 2 artwork on the walls. Due do some changes in the artwork from the original game, fans have speculated that this might be the first piece of artwork from the remakes. You can learn more about this here.

Plus, Remedy and Take-Two Interactive got caught up in a controversy at the beginning of the year. Rockstar’s parent company filed a legal dispute over Remedy’s current logo despite being close business partners.

Thankfully, Remedy clarified the situation was “resolved amicably late last year” and was just a formality. Even so, the details of the story are interesting and you can check it out here.

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