Max Payne 3 - Development

Development

"We've been blessed with being able to actually see the game and give some feedback. We've been meeting with Rockstar and looking at Max 3 – it looks absolutely phenomenal – the nice thing is we've been giving our feeling on the game but at the end of the day we don’t have to do any of the heavy lifting, which is nice. Rockstar don't make bad games, so you already know it's going to be good. Just like we hope the Remedy brand is a seal of quality, you know that Rockstar's brand is a seal of quality. It's been nice to be part of the process, but we don't want to take any of the limelight. From what we've seen it's going to be absolutely fantastic."

—Oskari Häkkinen, Remedy Entertainment franchise development head.

The game was originally scheduled for release in late 2009. However, it was pushed back to 2010 alongside several other Take-Two Interactive franchises in order to "benefit from having more development time." In June 2010, the game was again pushed back to 2011. On December 21, it was not present on the 2011-2012 calendar year, and was pushed back again. The game was still in development and not canceled or indefinitely halted when Rockstar released two new screenshots for the game. On September 8, 2011 Rockstar announced a March 2012 release date for the game, with a debut trailer released on September 14. In January 2012, Take-Two delayed the game by two months from its original March release date to May 2012. The publisher said the decision's been made to "ensure that Max Payne 3 delivers the highest quality."

The debut trailer was released on September 14, 2011. The writer for the series, Sam Lake, responded by commenting that the game would "maintain its dark and gritty origins" and that fans of the series would be "in for a surprise." Remedy boss Oskari Hakkinen praised Rockstar's take on the series, and said Max Payne 3 looks "brilliant".

Rockstar conducted research to ensure that the vibe, culture, police, weapons and every element of São Paulo is as authentic as possible. The research team visited São Paulo several times and went to lengths researching the local gangs, police and special forces, including each group's choice of equipment and firearms.

In a November 2011 interview, Dan Houser of Rockstar Games said that despite what the general public might think, Rockstar likes to "spend a bit of time" at the end of projects before deciding what to do next. "Basically we have been meaning to start for a while, but we have limited bandwidth and limited studios, and more games to make than we've started. So suddenly it was a good slot," Houser said, explaining why it took eight years to follow up Max Payne 2. "Also, contrary to a lot of people, we like to take a little bit of time at the end of a game before starting a sequel, so we can wait for the excitement or disappointment and everything else of the experience to shake down and really see what we should do in the next game."

In March 2012, it was confirmed that the PC version of the game will feature DirectX 11 and stereoscopic 3D rendering. The PC version of Max Payne 3 is shipped on four DVDs and the Xbox 360 version on two discs due to the disc size limit; however, the PS3 version ships on one Blu-ray Disc.