Rockstar and Remedy are remaking the first two Max Payne games

Rockstar Games and Remedy Entertainment announced today they are collaborating on remakes of the first two Max Payne titles. Those companies acted as the publisher and developer, respectively, of the original titles. They will launch the remakes on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

Remedy will develop the remakes on the Northlight engine, the same one Control is built with. The developer is also working on Alan Wake 2 on the same engine. According to the announcement, both Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne will be bundled together. Rockstar will finance the project, which will be “in line with a typical Remedy AAA-game production.” It’s currently in a very early stage of development.

Rockstar founder Sam Houser said in a statement, “We were thrilled when our long-time friends at Remedy approached us about remaking the original Max Payne games. We are massive fans of the work the Remedy team has created over the years and we can’t wait to play these new versions.” Rockstar developed and published the third title, Max Payne 3.

Max Payne is one of the franchises Rockstar has not touched in a while, alongside Bully, but it had not been forgotten. Last year, on the 20th anniversary of the original game, both Sam Lake (Payne’s face model and Remedy’s creative director) and James McCaffrey (Payne’s voice actor) paid tribute to the character. Both talked about how fans continue to talk about the character, even decades later.

Remedy CEO Tero Virtala said, “Max Payne has always held a special place in the hearts of everyone at Remedy, and we know the millions of fans worldwide feel the same. We’re hugely excited to be working with our partners at Rockstar Games once again for the chance to bring the story, action and atmosphere of the original Max Payne games back to players in new ways.”