Former Rockstar writer Dan Houser calls Max Payne 3 a failure

Former Rockstar Games vice president and writer Dan Houser told IGN that he feels he failed with the 2012 third-person shooter Max Payne 3. Speaking in a wide-ranging interview, Houser stated that he got the game completely wrong. IGN, Kotaku, and Eurogamer all reported on the interview details. [2][4][5]

Kotaku and PC Gamer both reported that Max Payne 3 suffered relative commercial underperformance compared to other Rockstar titles, despite receiving positive reviews from most critics at launch. Kotaku noted that Houser believes many fans missed the writing style of series creator Sam Lake. Lake had written the first two entries for Finnish developer Remedy Entertainment before Rockstar took over primary development for the third game. [1][2][4][11]

Houser co-founded Rockstar Games in 1998 alongside his brother Sam Houser and served as head writer until his resignation in 2020. As FTMQ Gaming reported earlier, Houser later established a new studio named Absurd Ventures in 2021. Beyond his work on Max Payne 3, Houser served as lead writer on major franchises including Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption. [2][4][10][13][15]

In the same IGN interview, Eurogamer and IGN reported that Houser detailed other historical challenges at Rockstar Games. These included the turbulent production of the 2006 action-adventure game Bully, as well as last-minute cover art alterations made to Grand Theft Auto 3 following the September 11 attacks. [5][6][7]