Max Payne Remakes: Remedy and Rockstar’s 2022 Project Still Missing Details

Remedy and Rockstar have been working on remakes of the first two Max Payne games for years now, but after the original announcement in April 2022, players are still waiting on the kind of concrete details that usually follow a project moving deeper into production. Even with milestones like full production reportedly beginning in mid-2024, the release window and gameplay changes remain largely unconfirmed.

Key takeaways

• Remedy and Rockstar announced remakes for Max Payne and Max Payne 2 on April 6, 2022.
• Rockstar has not added new public details since the 2022 announcement, and Take-Two roadmaps reportedly show no entry.
• Funding is described in Remedy’s quarterly reporting as coming entirely from Rockstar.
• Production progressed from concept through pre-production to full production starting in mid-2024, with nine quarters in full production.
• Budget is said to be in the same range as Alan Wake 2, and Remedy has previously shown it can finish projects faster than two years in full production.

How Max Payne ended up back in development

Remedy and Rockstar’s involvement traces back more than two decades. Max Payne 1 released in 2001, and Remedy had already sold the Max Payne brand rights to Rockstar before Max Payne 2 launched in 2003. The deal reportedly brought in over 30 million US dollars.

After the first two entries Remedy developed, Rockstar handled Max Payne 3 on its own. From that point until 2022, the series sat largely quiet—until the two companies revealed they were reuniting for remakes of the original pair.

The 2022 announcement—and what’s changed since

On April 6, 2022, the remakes were formally announced. The statement at the time said Remedy signed an agreement with Rockstar Games to remaster the two games, Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. The Remedy site reportedly crashed temporarily due to excessive traffic during the announcement.

Take-Two’s investor materials have continued to reference the project without meaningful change since 2022. The materials describe Remedy Entertainment as the developer of the original Max Payne titles and state that, under a new arrangement with Rockstar, the “cult games” would be re-released.

Despite that, Rockstar has offered no further public update in the years since. Take-Two’s publicly listed future titles in its roadmaps reportedly still do not include the remakes. Remedy’s quarterly reports, however, provide more incremental information—especially around funding and production stage.

Production status, budget expectations, and the remaining unknowns

Remedy’s reporting indicates that Rockstar is financing the remakes. Since 2022, the project has moved from concept through pre-production and into full production starting in mid-2024. By the latest described stage, the remakes have reportedly spent nine quarters in full production.

That timeline still leaves open questions about how close the remakes are to shipping. The budget is described as being on par with Alan Wake 2. Remedy has also previously demonstrated it can complete games faster than a two-year full-production window—citing Control and FBC: Firebreak as examples of projects that did not require that long.

Because of that, it’s suggested the remakes may land sometime next year rather than this year. The reasoning is that if a near-term release were likely, Take-Two would probably have already addressed it in planning or communications. Take-Two is also said to be focusing marketing efforts heavily on GTA 6, which could further affect timing.

Remedy has been asked about Max Payne in recent performance discussions as well, and the response reportedly went viral: Rockstar Games handles distribution, so Remedy would not comment on related questions.

What players still don’t know about the remakes

Even the scope of the final product remains unclear, though it’s expected the remakes will cover both games together. Remedy has not explained how it will “bring them together” as a single package, nor has it detailed what changes it plans to make to modernize the gameplay.

On the technical side, the Northlight engine is widely expected to play a role, and the budget scale suggests more than a simple update. With the mention of features like pathtracing also being plausible but not confirmed publicly, PC-focused players are likely to watch for official details about rendering, engine capabilities, and whether any ray/path-tracing features are included at launch.