Max Payne 3 killed by Grand Theft Auto V?

Speculation time.

Fudzilla is pondering when Grand Theft Auto V will be released, and they’re speculating that it’s actually in development, and in the process, killed Max Payne 3.

According to the site:

While Rockstar did release two major content additions for GTA IV, the company has been very quiet about the future of the franchise, other than sort of admitting that a new installment is in development. The major reason for speculation that a holiday release this year is the goal is due to the fact that contracts of some key personnel responsible for the GTA franchise expire in January 2012, and it would be favorable to their negotiating position to deliver GTA 5 before their contracts end.

Some of our sources say that the lack of any information about Max Payne 3 might also be a clue that resources are being directed toward the development of GTA 5. This seems to agree with what industry analyst, Michael Pachter, believes is the case.

Fudzilla thinks GTA 5 will be announced at E3 2011. However, according to analyst Doug Creutz, an actual release will not happen before March 2012.

edited 10th Feb '11 9:11:55 AM by JAF1970

Jonah Falcon

But Max Payne 3 isn't even by the same Rockstar studio that does the GTA games, for one thing. In fact, Rockstar Vancouver has never even touched a GTA game.

It's also kind of an arbitrary thing to guess, and Pachter doesn't exactly have a good track record.

Je Suis "Aware"

Yeah, Rockstar Games aren't one huge studio. R* North never touched Max Payne, even when the sequel had Rockstar plastered all over it instead of 3D Realms (as everyone knows they were just the publishers at the time).

I like to think that Vancouver are taking their time in order to deliver a sequel as Surprisingly Better to Max Payne as Red Dead Redemption was to Red Dead Revolver. Keeping up expectations and all.

Doesn't make me jones for it any less, though. And I'm still sad that not even Sam Lake is on board. :(

edited 10th Feb '11 11:30:50 AM by Litis

Honestly, considering how distressingly They Changed It, Now It Sucks! Max Payne 3 sounds, I wouldn't be disappointed if it vanished.

Rockstar is Rockstar North these days.

The new It Just Bugs Me!

^^ What sounded like that about it? The cover system, Brazil setting and the fact that Max is now bald? It sounds pretty far off from the originals, yeah, but no matter the way you twist it, Max moving as far away from NY as possible after the end of the second and changing his looks over the years seems pretty damn logical to me.

The addition of a cover system is rather distressing - I can definitely feel getting gradually spoiled by this gameplay element. I started playing TPS with Vice City and Max Payne, but after having played games like Mass Effect and Gears of War for quite a while I've got my ass handed to me by Mafia. It wasn't that good a game anyway, but you get my point.

What bugs me about this is that I don't know what to expect from the writing now that the original writer isn't working on it.

^ I don't think so; San Diego appear to have broken into their own with RDR.

edited 10th Feb '11 12:18:31 PM by Litis

Well, to be fair, this could still be how it works. A publisher cuts funding to one studio to divert its money and resources to another project with better sales potential.

But then, I've never seen Pachter be right in any way before, so whatever.

AND where the link went before I even moused over it.

Me Too!!

I'd play Grand Theft Auto over Max Payne any day. Unless its Grand Theft Auto 4 or China Town Wars, then I'll just read a book.

Modified Ura-nage, Torture Rack

Max Payne 3 setting sounds pretty logical to me, with the exception of the cover system

@Roland: Agreed. It should be allowed to molder until a better devteam gets their paws on it.

Eric,

I'm hoping the next GTA game will have a female protagonist.

I know it'll never happen, though. They'd have to abandon the usual "penises DUR HUR HUR" humour.

It's not over. Not yet.

They could use Catalina.

They also haven't used "penis" as a joke since Vice City. Try to keep up.

Catalina's dead.

And I figure they'd go with someone new, someone that wasn't part Nightmare Fuel.

(More referring to the tone of the series, but whatevs. They could probably keep doing it.)

edited 10th Feb '11 11:10:52 PM by Medicus

It's not over. Not yet.

Oh please, she was in a helicopter that got hit by a missile. Agent Toreno survived that.

Plus, we still haven't sseen her rise to the head of the Columbian Cartel.

And Catalina isn't that much more Nightmare Fuel than Tommy.

edited 10th Feb '11 11:31:30 PM by IndigoDingo

Well then I'll just say that Catalina sucked and I wanted to shoot her every time she opened her mouth.

So far though we haven't seen any of the GTA III — San Andreas characters in IV, so I don't think she'll be back.

It's not over. Not yet.

Uh, Lazlo?

Lazlow's the exception to the rule, he's always in the GTA games.

He's basically a Self-Insert: the real-life Lazlow writes and produces the in-game radio.

edited 11th Feb '11 1:05:53 AM by Medicus

It's not over. Not yet.

Good. I hope it stays dead. I don't need a second Deadto Rights: Retribution

There was that piece of Fan Disservice in Ballad of Gay Tony...

Jonah Falcon

What was it? Was it as bad as the full-fontal nudity in The Lost and the Damned?

^ That was the one JAF meant. Personally, it wasn't the hose that disgusted me, it's the Uncanny Valley look of it. And it wasn't funny. I feel GTA hasn't been all that funny since San Andreas anyway, and that was one hilarious game.

How did this get derailed to a GTA discussion? Come on. Oh boy, I sure hope that they don't ruin Max Payne and that it's still being worked on and all that.

edited 11th Feb '11 8:15:26 AM by Litis

The appeal of Max Payne for me was the Film Noir atmosphere and the screenshots are the very antithesis of that. It looks like another run-of-the-mill TPS with chest-high wall cover system, i.e. the apex of blandness. Max looks like a testosterone overdosed hobo and I'd be really surprised if they don't take the Bloodier and Gorier route complete with Obligatory Swearing. Any game that instantly reminds me of Kane And Lynch is doing something horribly wrong, especially if said game is called Max Payne.

edited 11th Feb '11 8:32:26 AM by Ana

I've only played Max Payne 2 a long while back, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. Vlad was an asshole. :V

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