Max Payne 3 sells 440K in debut month, called 'a flop'

Although Max Payne 3 managed to secure the number two spot in last month's NPD numbers, actual sales figures suggest Rockstar's latest has seriously underperformed, with millions of unsold copies sitting on store shelves.

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Although Max Payne 3 managed to secure the number two spot in last month's NPD numbers, actual sales figures suggest Rockstar's latest has seriously underperformed. According to NPD stats, Max Payne 3 managed to sell 440K units.

While that number may seem impressive to some, it is a far cry from the first-month sales of Rockstar's big 2011 game, LA Noire. That game sold nearly 900K units, but even that game fell short of industry expectations. With Max Payne selling even fewer copies, it's unsurprising that Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter would call the game "a flop."

Pachter points out the game's eight-year development, and claims "Rockstar put off releasing GTA" to work on MP3. Rockstar has admitted that the long-troubled development of Max Payne 3 eventually required the work of many of its global studios.

It's clear that Take-Two Interactive, parent company of Rockstar, was betting big on Max Payne 3's success. In its last financial report, Take-Two claims retail sell-in of about 3 million units. With only 440K units sold in the US, that means there are a few million units of unsold inventory sitting on store shelves. If you haven't bought Max Payne 3 yet (and by the looks of these numbers, you likely haven't), retail markdowns are likely to happen in the coming weeks.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    June 15, 2012 1:00 PM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Max Payne 3 sells 440K in debut month, called 'a flop'.

    Although Max Payne 3 managed to secure the number two spot in last month's NPD numbers, actual sales figures suggest Rockstar's latest has seriously underperformed, with millions of unsold copies sitting on store shelves.

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 1:37 PM

      is that 3rd paragraph correct? they put off GTA to work on GTA? Did you mean MP3?

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      June 15, 2012 1:41 PM

      They screwed up, just like Splinter Cell: Conviction did. Chasing money instead of making a good game.

      They need to just cancel the franchise, or return it to it's PC roots.

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        June 15, 2012 1:49 PM

        I wouldn't be surprised if MP3's day-and-date release with Diablo 3 also hurt sales. MP is a big name, but Diablo is bigger.

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          June 15, 2012 1:58 PM

          Yeah I'm sure many people figured they'd be busy with D3 for few weeks and passed on the game for time being. So it was a bad move on their part to release it on the same day as one of biggest releases in the last decade.

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            June 15, 2012 3:38 PM

            /me guilty

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            June 15, 2012 6:11 PM

            I find it remarkable that people prefer D3 to mp3.

            D3 is a massive mouse click fest(why anyone would like that is beyond me), and the graphics are the same as the warcraft 3 engine.

            There were quite a few Diablo 3 maps made for warcraft 3, and when I saw D3 come out, it looks exactly the same.

            Oh well, each to their own I guess.. poor Rockstar. I think people are a bit annoyed that Remedy didn't make mp3. Looking forward to GTA 5 and Watchdogs.

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              June 15, 2012 10:10 PM

              Do you think if money or your life was on the line you could tell the difference between the d3 and war 3 engine?

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                June 17, 2012 9:17 PM

                Umm, I am sure I could think of something if I was about to die, or lose money..

                like I saw a pixel that was a different color...

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              June 18, 2012 7:40 AM

              First, yes, people like different things and when you say "why anyone would like that is beyond me", same thing comes to my mind when i see another shooter... 8 out of 10 game now are shooters, to be honest, i don't see the point in buying another one!
              Second, many PC user would like to buy it, i am sure of it, but, they delayed it for PC and they released it along with D3... not smart!
              Third, it seems that this game has about 3 hours of game play and 4 hours of unskippable cut scenes, i don't think i want that...

              and i love the first 2 games, and i feel bad for mp3, i wish it would do better, but it didn't...

      • reply
        June 15, 2012 2:44 PM

        I enjoyed Conviction and LOVED the co-op.

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        June 15, 2012 4:10 PM

        Conviction was an excellent game, both singleplayer and coop.

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        June 15, 2012 4:46 PM

        It had a great PC port. Did you even play it?

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        June 15, 2012 6:07 PM

        Have you even played MP3? As a fan of the first two games I had a great time playing MP3. MP 1 and 2 were great both on consoles and PC, and the third title continues that.

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        June 15, 2012 10:08 PM

        what did rockstar do in the 8 year development that was focused on chasing money instead of attempting to make a good game?

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        June 16, 2012 4:55 AM

        Think what you will. I loved Max Payne 3, one of the best Single Player campaigns I've played since Red Dead Redemption.

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        June 17, 2012 11:55 AM

        Yeah, except both MP3 and Splinter Cell:Conviction are excellent games.

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      June 15, 2012 1:44 PM

      They made a Max Payne game no one wanted. What do they expect? Take him out of the noir setting and make the character completely unlikable sound like a recipie for disaster.

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        June 15, 2012 1:49 PM

        Such a great game. You should give it a chance. :[

        • rms legacy 10 years legacy 20 years mercury super mega
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          June 15, 2012 3:08 PM

          I don't think this 'underperformance' had anything to do with the game itself. I'm certain I'll enjoy it, once I get around to it.

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          June 15, 2012 3:09 PM

          I agree. I'm on Chapter XIII. Enjoying it a lot right now.

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          June 15, 2012 3:45 PM

          No melkore is on the ball, I hate the Max in this one. He's fundamentally hate-able.

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            June 15, 2012 8:18 PM

            [deleted]

            • reply
              June 16, 2012 3:22 AM

              Him Blathering on about it every fucking 5 seconds ruins any redemption he might get. At one point in the game I switch from gameplay to a cinematic and his whining started to whine over his other whine and they sounded roughly the same. Was hilarious

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          June 15, 2012 4:00 PM

          I gave it a chance and I found it merely ok.

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          June 15, 2012 5:02 PM

          I enjoyed it, but it's just like a Call of Duty campaign, all shooting and explosions. They should have waited for Remedy.

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        June 15, 2012 5:27 PM

        [deleted]

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        June 15, 2012 10:12 PM

        Is there really a big audience for noir? I would assume any fans they lose from moving away from a noir setting would be replaced by those who were not into noir in the first place.

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      June 15, 2012 1:48 PM

      Sounds to me like "industry expectations" are a little out of whack with current market realities.

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        June 15, 2012 1:54 PM

        For a Rockstar title expectations of big numbers probably aren't that out of whack. 440k is indicative of a failure for them.

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          June 15, 2012 1:57 PM

          Just because you slap Rockstar on it doesn't mean it's going to have wide appeal. They took a fairly old IP, which the most recent iteration for most people is a Mark Whalberg movie, and expected it to sell what, a million?

          They need to fire their analysts then. Max Payne is niche, will always be niche, and when you exclude the largest segment of it's fanbase (the PC guys), it's not going to sell that number.

          If you take #2 on NPD and its considered a failure, you fucked something up in your business plan.

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            June 15, 2012 2:00 PM

            Oh, I agree that the title is really kind of niche and probably wasn't destined to sell a lot. But the suits probably just see Rockstar pushing out a title and do expect good numbers based on their past history. Unrealistic, but understandable.

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            June 15, 2012 2:03 PM

            In what world is a graphically impressive bullet time shooter developed by Rockstar niche? That Max Payne may not be a huge IP with newer gamers is irrelevant. It could've been a brand new IP in the exact same style and expectations would be far above 500k copies sold out of the game.

            Being #2 in NPD means nothing. Sales totals are what matters. It doesn't matter how you did next to a bunch of unrelated games with unrelated budgets.

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              June 15, 2012 10:17 PM

              It must be niche, otherwise it would have sole more, unless it is a bad game, but people seem to like the game, so it appears that people are just not interested, which means it has a small audience, hence niche.

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        June 15, 2012 1:58 PM

        "...ultimately you need to get to audience sizes of around five million to really continue to invest in an IP like Dead Space. Anything less than that and it becomes quite difficult financially given how expensive it is to make games and market them. We feel good about that growth but we have to be very paranoid about making sure we don't change the experience so much that we lose the fanbase." -- EA Games President Frank Gibeau, to CVG
        http://www.computerandvideogames.com/353554/interviews/exclusive-a-frank-chat-with-eas-gibeau/?page=4#top_banner

        I realize that this is what AAA game production has become, but in terms of the artform itself, AAA games are driving themselves off a cliff. We've already seen signs of this, like Call of Duty turning into a linear "always at 11" corridor-fest, of Need for Speed turning itself into that with "Need for Speed: The Run", and so on.

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          June 15, 2012 2:10 PM

          The analysts are going to drive it all off a cliff because they obviously expect anything from the same developer to sell more than the last game. And that's not going to always work out.

          Calling this a flop is mind-boggling to me. I mean obviously we don't know the budget, but we do know Rockstar games typically keep selling for months, so it seems a bit pre-mature to call this a flop... but oh well. I guess Patcher needed some extra pageviews this week.

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            June 15, 2012 2:19 PM

            I really don't think it takes inside info to know just based on looking at the game's visual fidelity and marketing push and Rockstar's pedigree (they don't exactly do niche games) that they would've expected much better sales than this.

            Whether Rockstar games generally have a longer tail than average or not the fact is it's a tail, so you expect a reduction from a high number to start with. 440k is not a high number for a Rockstar launch.

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            June 15, 2012 7:32 PM

            Most big games do the bulk of their business, and certainly the majority of their full-price sales, within the first two or three weeks.

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          June 15, 2012 7:26 PM

          That's precisely it. They're overdoing the production and not spending enough time making sure the gameplay is fun. The success of indie games that are incredibly fun like Terraria and Amnesia shows that you don't need a massive budget to make fun games. They need to prioritize better on those AAA titles and focus more on fun gameplay before pumping millions into the production quality, which will increase the chance of success.

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      June 15, 2012 1:49 PM

      Maybe because they picked a pretty bad day to release it

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        June 15, 2012 1:49 PM

        Also because they kept delaying the PC version...

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          June 17, 2012 7:31 PM

          Diablo 3 would have played a massive part in the PC delay.

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      June 15, 2012 1:49 PM

      This doesn't include Steam sales does it?

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        June 15, 2012 1:50 PM

        PC sales are not included, as the PC release did not come out in May.

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      June 15, 2012 1:49 PM

      Maybe don't release right on top of Diablo 3... is releasing a month later really that much of a problem?

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 1:50 PM

      [deleted]

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      June 15, 2012 1:50 PM

      I've enjoyed the game, but bought it on a whim without seeing much advertising for it

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      June 15, 2012 1:51 PM

      I plan to pick it up eventually.

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      June 15, 2012 1:52 PM

      Well... its an old franchise that todays kids cant really relate to.... and you seiously thought people were just gonna go "Hmm since I'm getting Diablo 3 i should pick up Max Payne 3 to play when i get bored of Diablo",,,,, NO !!!

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        June 15, 2012 2:20 PM

        [deleted]

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        June 15, 2012 2:23 PM

        That makes no sense at all.

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        June 15, 2012 2:31 PM

        Eh, relate to what? 2 and 3 are completely different games.

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        June 15, 2012 3:53 PM

        I bought Max Payne 3 to play while Blizzard's servers would inevitably be offline during launch day. I ended up finishing it with all of Diablo's downtime.

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      June 15, 2012 1:58 PM

      [deleted]

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      June 15, 2012 1:58 PM

      Just want to add a correction.

      There probably are not 2.6 million units unsold. NPD is only for the US while Rockstar's 3 million units number is referencing worldwide.

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        June 15, 2012 2:07 PM

        Also, 440k units in a couple of weeks is not a complete disaster, though not good.

        At least they released it!

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          June 15, 2012 10:25 PM

          I would assume they need to sell 2 million units to 4 million units to break even depending on the budget, so 440k sell through is not great.

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            June 15, 2012 10:47 PM

            Like I said it's not good, but still far from a disaster (at least yet).

            That's for retail only in it's first 2 weeks, it will probably double that by the end of it's first year.

            Keep in mind this is US only. It will probably pull something similar in Europe, and some fraction of that in Asia.

            That's also just retail, not digital. Steam, Origin, and others, which are not tracked by NPD, will probably give it a bit of a boost.

            All in all, I would think that it will at least come close to breaking even.

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 2:01 PM

      It was probably a mistake branding it as "Max Payne 3" on the consoles. First two weren't big enough on them to get console players to really remember.

      Now on the PC, calling it Max Payne 3 is fine.

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        June 15, 2012 2:09 PM

        Why not just drop the number entirely like plenty of other franchises have done. (Looking at you Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and Need for Speed: Most Wanted)

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          June 15, 2012 2:58 PM

          Yeah, exactly. Could've been something like Max Payne: Brazilian Boogaloo

    • DM7 legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
      reply
      June 15, 2012 2:06 PM

      You released it on the same week as Diablo 3, that's gotta hurt sales.

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        June 15, 2012 2:12 PM

        yeah. that's always been a mystery to me, who chooses when to release things. timing is important.

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          June 15, 2012 2:16 PM

          I don't think timing is a luxury all developers/publishers have.

          also it's fucked up if diablo 3 hurt sales; game development doesn't have to be zero-sum like that (not defending MP3 here or necessarily accusations that ti's a flop, just saying)

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            June 15, 2012 2:17 PM

            At some point it is a zero-sum game, because consumers have a limited amount of time and money to invest in these purchases, and not all of them are going to purchase everything at the same time.

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              June 15, 2012 5:21 PM

              market saturation shouldn't happen with ONE freaking game, though, no matter how big of a release it is. it's really unhealthy for the market to be like that, especially for a market this size.

              • reply
                June 15, 2012 5:28 PM

                Well...it did happen. Whether or not that's healthy is a separate issue.

              • reply
                June 15, 2012 5:34 PM

                it happens all the time in other industries too, I gave examples. No one smart is going to be releasing their big movie on the same day or week following The Dark Knight Rises

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                  June 15, 2012 5:41 PM

                  No way man, that's totally unhealthy, therefore it doesn't happen!

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                June 15, 2012 5:40 PM

                It's not 'one freaking game', it's Diablo 3.

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                June 15, 2012 7:08 PM

                Money didn't run out. Time did. With something like Diablo 3 you can easily spend a few months playing w/o so much as blinking an eye at other games being released.

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                  June 16, 2012 2:43 AM

                  Yeah, I think a lot of games are made addicting and are artificially extended purely so gamers spend less money on competitors products.

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            June 15, 2012 2:21 PM

            why is it fucked up? We all ha e limited time and money. It's no different in any other medium. You don't release your movie the same weekend as the next Batman movie, no matter how big you think you are, you're only going to get hurt even if you survive it. You don't release your book when the next Harry Potter is coming out. Etc.

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              June 15, 2012 2:23 PM

              They are very different games and both do not appeal to all. Also, Max Payne 3 is on console whereas Diablo 3 is not.

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                June 15, 2012 2:28 PM

                And was also on console weeks before Diablo 3, there was a big enough window where Diablo 3 shouldn't have been a factor at all in regards to console sales which these charts are almost entirely comprised of.

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                  June 15, 2012 2:33 PM

                  Well I was 100% wrong about the dates. I blame my Diablo 3 coma. The delay PC release messed me up.

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                June 15, 2012 2:30 PM

                But a majority of us are gamers that are going to end up playing both. Just the majority of us won't simply pick the game up to have it sit on a shelf while we binge on diablo 3. That is why we feel it was dumb to release it on day of the most anticipated release in gaming history?

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                  June 15, 2012 2:35 PM

                  There are still way more gamers out there with a 360 or PS3 that don't give a fuck about DIablo 3 or PC games than those who actually bought Diablo 3.

                  Can't lay the blame on the date alone.

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                    June 16, 2012 8:01 AM

                    You sure spit out a lot of knowledge without backup.

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            June 15, 2012 10:39 PM

            timing is almost always closely calculated and the competitive landscape plays a huge role in deciding when to release a game. sometimes games are announced after you announce your date, though - nothing is ever perfect.

            also, i am sure Diablo fucked with all game sales around its launch.

        • reply
          June 15, 2012 2:16 PM

          According to Morris's story, they chose to go head-to-head with Diablo 3

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          June 15, 2012 2:48 PM

          At Ubi, we released End War against GoW 2. Yeah, bad move. :/ End War was actually pretty good IMO, had flaws but it definitely tanked harder than it might have with more breathing space

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        June 15, 2012 2:59 PM

        it's the only reason I haven't bought it yet, since I knew D3 would eat up a ton of my time that it wouldn't be worth getting MP3 straight away.

      • reply
        June 15, 2012 5:04 PM

        Yeah maybe Rockstar's name isn't that much of a drawl anymore.

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          June 15, 2012 5:10 PM

          worked pretty well for LA Noire and Rockstar wasn't even the developer

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            June 15, 2012 5:26 PM

            I think their drawl worked better for Red Dead Redemption.

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              June 15, 2012 6:07 PM

              Damn shame we couldn't get that on PC >:(

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                June 15, 2012 6:27 PM

                I was nothing but happy with the console version.

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                  June 15, 2012 7:39 PM

                  Same, but I'd love to see what it looked like on the PC. Favorite game of this generation.

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 2:19 PM

      There wasn't really anything that looked appealing about the promotional material. Releasing opposite Diablo 3 probably hurt too.

      A friend and I were talking about it a month before it released, and we both guessed that it was going to bomb hard and doom the franchise.

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      June 15, 2012 2:22 PM

      Even if this was a Remedy game and not Rockstar, I'm not sure I would have payed $60 for this at launch on PC. It's just not one of those games and I love Max Payne. I plan on getting it eventually but you gotta price stuff appropriately to snag me.

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      June 15, 2012 2:22 PM

      wonder what that number would be if they priced it at $39

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      June 15, 2012 2:35 PM

      Maybe in R* terms, but a lot of other titles would be happy with 440K in the first month.

      • reply
        June 15, 2012 2:45 PM

        and those titles wouldn't have had the same budget so the comparison doesn't mean much

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          June 15, 2012 3:06 PM

          True. Then again, the budget on this game was as big as it was because of shitty management and direction as much as actual work that went into the game. There was no need for a Max Payne game to have a GTA style budget.

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 2:44 PM

      Ooouuch. They intentionally marketed it same as LA Noire and RDR - lots of bold artwork, lots of outdoor advertising, those informative making-of vits... Guess they had to finally have a game trip up taking the same approach, even if it worked so well before.

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 2:44 PM

      pachter is a shitbeast and no one should listen to what he says

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      June 15, 2012 2:45 PM

      Game looked interesting, I will probably buy it eventually, but it was classified as a "buy after all the DLC comes out and it's cheap" game for me. Too many other good games this year.

      Now if it had come out during a "dry period" when I was bored, I'd have grabbed it right up.

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      June 15, 2012 3:11 PM

      Pachter points out the game's eight-year development, and claims "Rockstar put off releasing GTA" to work on MP3. Rockstar has admitted that the long-troubled development of Max Payne 3 eventually required the work of many of its global studios.

      Wut? It's possible MP3 has been in development for 8 years, but not with R*. That's kind of misleading. Then again, this is Pachter.

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 3:12 PM

      I'm an easy audience, but I thought the game was a blast with a nice style that was different but not alien, and the mp was surprisingly fun. I've played more MP3 than Diablo.

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 3:14 PM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        June 15, 2012 3:39 PM

        how do i play it "correctly" out of curiosity?

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          June 15, 2012 4:50 PM

          On Pc of course Good Sir

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          June 15, 2012 4:59 PM

          Not as a cover shooter. Which was impossible on Hard.

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          June 15, 2012 6:10 PM

          [deleted]

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            June 15, 2012 6:18 PM

            i still died waaay too much on easy, how do you recover bullet time?

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              June 15, 2012 6:41 PM

              Cap fools in the head. Once I pretty much forgot about cover, i was just this strafing headshot machine. Then after awhile you can start actively dodging bullets and shit.

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              June 15, 2012 7:32 PM

              [deleted]

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            June 15, 2012 7:05 PM

            Oh whatever. It's the same as starring at a wall in Max Payne 1 & 2. Don't act like you didn't do that.

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              June 15, 2012 8:14 PM

              I don't get the whining about the cover. I did a ton of wall strafing in MP 1&2.

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              June 17, 2012 12:55 AM

              I don't remember doing it enough to be a significant gameplay mechanic in either of the first games. I had plenty of bullet time and kicked ass with or without. Not like the first two games were hard, for big fights you had plenty of bullet time and for small ones you did not need it.


          • reply
            June 17, 2012 5:56 AM

            This is so incorrect - I'm playing on Hard and the difficulty is the same as MP1 + 2. You drop into cover sometimes, shoot dodge a ton, and get shot and have to replay short sections every once in a while. All in all exactly like a Max Payne game should be.

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      June 15, 2012 3:49 PM

      I would have bought it if it didn't come out at the same time as D3. Why buy it for $60 when it comes out when I know full well I won't get around to it for several months. I'd rather just get it on sale for $10 in a year. Now that it's a "flop" it will probably be bargain bin in no time.

      • reply
        June 15, 2012 4:38 PM

        Yeah, this and Kingdoms of Amalur both struck me as Steam sale games.

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        June 15, 2012 5:54 PM

        Same here. I've been playing D3 obsessively to the exclusion of everything else, it's pretty pointless buying any other games in the short term. I hadn't even looked at Max Payne 3. Now that I do look at it on Steam, I notice that I'm predictably being charged $30 more than US customers for the same product delivered the same way.

        When I'm done playing my first thousand hours or so of D3 I might consider buying MP3 if they'll offer it to me at a fair price.

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        June 15, 2012 6:35 PM

        This. I love MP but D3 is simply much more appealing. When I first heard their plan to release MP3 on 15 May (same date as D3), I was like, wtf they were commiting financial suicide or what.

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 4:12 PM

      Best game I've played in a long while, Rockstar production values are almost faultless to me and they seriously pour their heart and souls into the games they create. It's such a great game that stays true to it's roots. Harsh, violent and it makes you feel like a total fucking badass. The multiplayer is so much fun to

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 5:03 PM

      I think the market is contracting and the current generation of consoles will see fewer sales. They waited too long for a new generation.

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 5:09 PM

      This makes me kind of sad as I just finished the game and I found it amazing. It's a little slow to start up, but when it gets going it is truly amazing.

      Great game!

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      June 15, 2012 5:20 PM

      who's excited for the steam sale??!!!

      • reply
        June 16, 2012 1:49 AM

        Me! Slap 75% off on that sucker and I'm all over it.

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 6:00 PM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        June 17, 2012 3:28 AM

        hahahhaa pc games OH SH-- WHAT HAVE WE--

      • reply
        June 17, 2012 10:20 PM

        They were like, "It's a PC Game, PC gaming is dead".

        Baz-zinga!!!!

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 6:07 PM

      It's a really good movie with inconvenient game play elements in between. The game play elements aren't bad at all actually. Also I like it because I die quite a lot in this game and that makes me want to play it.

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        June 16, 2012 2:37 PM

        This is what has kept me away from the game. If I wanted to watch this movie again, I'd watch either Denzel's or Scott Glen's Man On Fire. Or City Of God.

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        June 17, 2012 9:19 PM

        Try an easier difficulty?

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 6:18 PM

      its too violent to be a big sellar on consoles. its MA15+ here, which is higher than Prometheus (M).

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 6:25 PM

      [deleted]

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        June 15, 2012 7:09 PM

        About a quarter to a third of the game takes place in New Jersey. The writing IMO was lacking though. It came close to Max Payne 1 & 2 sometimes, but ultimately, Max wasn't narrating a noir story. It felt like he was just a commentator. There's a big difference. Max talks way too much in this game too and none of it is the over-the-top "flesh of fallen angels" type stuff. No Jack Lupino crazy or Vinny Gognitt antics. There's no borderline madness either. It's serious as can be. Felt more like a Die Hard game than Max Payne.

        Still, it was a good game, just the weakest in the series.

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        June 17, 2012 2:30 PM

        Really? I felt as if he was an even bigger badass than ever before. Such a cool character to play as in a video game. I dare you to find a more badass moment than the melee kill in the single player.

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      June 15, 2012 6:47 PM

      I almost certainly would have bought this when it came out... if it had not been the exact same time as Diablo 3.

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      June 15, 2012 6:52 PM

      Market is just saturated with these games now. Back when MP1 came out, it was revolutionary in many ways. One of my favorite games ever. MP2 wasn't quite as good IMO, but still great, but it just didn't seem as special as MP1 to me.

      MP3 looks great and I will be picking it up eventually, but third person shooters are pretty passe now.

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      June 15, 2012 7:17 PM

      I will definitely be playing this... as soon as I'm no longer having fun playing D3.

    • reply
      June 15, 2012 7:39 PM

      [deleted]

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      June 15, 2012 8:24 PM

      Please do not further propagate Michael Patcher's opinion by including it in your headline. I thought someone important, at Take Two or elsehwere, had called it a flop not just some random analyst. This is pretty tacky shack.

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        June 16, 2012 4:16 AM

        Me too, it's relevant if Rockstar say it flopped, not the shittiest games analyst of all shitty analysts.

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          June 16, 2012 11:33 PM

          true, you can't generate a headline quote if its coming from someone like him. more substantial source, maybe

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          June 17, 2012 3:50 PM

          Yeah from the headline I was thinking it was Rockstar that was calling it a flop.

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      June 15, 2012 9:55 PM

      PC sales not a part of this, right? Article says May 29th was the PC release date, which is wrong, as it got moved to June 1st...

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        June 18, 2012 10:31 PM

        Totally. i held out for pc like most other players. these numbers are not good representation. i wonder if it gains top stop over this month.

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      June 15, 2012 10:00 PM

      [deleted]

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      June 15, 2012 10:06 PM

      I've been waiting for Max Payne and 2 to be rereleased either on GOG or 360 so I can finally play them, before playing their sequel. I would have thought that would be a no-brainer leading up to the release of Max Payne 3. Apparently not, though. Well, I guess MP3 can keep on waiting.

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        June 17, 2012 2:31 PM

        I'm sure you can play the original Xbox version of MP2. If I'm not mistaken, there is a download for it on Games on demand.

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      June 15, 2012 11:18 PM

      Probably the first dumb thing they did was launch on the same day as Diablo 3. DER!!!

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      June 16, 2012 9:26 AM

      Bought StarCraft II this week because it was on sale. I would have bought MP3 if it was way cheaper, because for my next game, I would have to choose between Diablo III and MP3. I think I would choose Diablo 3 and wait til MP3 bugs on PC are fixed.

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      June 16, 2012 12:17 PM

      Imagine working your ass off on something for 8 years only to be told it wasn't worth it and that you fail, this is why it sucks to be a game dev...

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        June 16, 2012 1:20 PM

        [deleted]

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          June 17, 2012 3:32 AM

          You think, even as a now-empty bottle of muscle relaxers drop from your numb fingers...

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        June 17, 2012 8:44 PM

        I worked there for 3 years on another title that never saw the light of day so yeah, ive got a similar feeling

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      June 16, 2012 9:12 PM

      It sucks to hear this because i have been having a blast playing through the single player and playing multiplayer with my friends.

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      June 17, 2012 3:33 AM

      This is the new market, guys. We'll buy it when it goes on sale.

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        June 17, 2012 6:16 AM

        ^^ This.

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        June 17, 2012 6:49 PM

        I think just about every publisher/developer is getting this message, especially when it comes to single player, linear/on rails games.

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      June 17, 2012 1:16 PM

      These are from May sales? The PC wasn't even launched till June... and what about digital distribution?? Steam is never considered in the sales figures, I'm guessing 95% of the PC sales for MP3 were on Steam... and yea and this guy is some nobody anyways...

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      June 17, 2012 6:50 PM

      Sorry Max. You're on my list of games to buy but I am not willing to drop $60 on two titles all at once. Not when that other title is Diablo 3.

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      June 17, 2012 8:11 PM

      Let's see, crappy economy, Diablo 3 release, and an overweight Max Payne in sunny Brazil? What could go wrong?

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      June 18, 2012 8:08 AM

      Lots of people talking here, but bottom like is many didn't buy it. So if you count yourself among the FEW that did buy it. Then like me, you loved it. But if you saw your mom play it, your best friend play it, you stole it, you rented it, you borrowed it and then came here and left a comment or worse - convinced OTHERS NOT to buy cause you didn't like it.

      Then you suck monkey balls.
      This Max Payne was the best of the bunch and it was a natural progression for the series.

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        June 18, 2012 10:29 AM

        No it really isn't. It's the worst max payne. The games mechanics are a step down from max payne 1/2. You can only carry 2/3 weapons which i absolutely freaking hate. In MP2 not only did you receive bullet time for killing enemies but time would also slow down more and you would speed up allowing you to dodge bullets. This is not present in mp3 and bullet time is extremely short and almost useless.

        Shoot dodge in mp3 is retarded and basically stops time and turns you into a UFO capable of sniping 4-5 or more people with head shots from a single pistol. Pistols in mp1/2 where not that accurate nor did it give you much time during a dive and was more about spraying/dodging bullets during a dive. It also takes forever to stand back up from a shoot dodge while in mp1/2 you could chain dives and keep dodging bullets.

        The presentation in MP3 is freaking annoying with the constant seizure effect makes me want to skip every cut scene in the game.

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          June 18, 2012 1:20 PM

          Why oh why would I want to buy the same Max Payne game I played in 2003. That's nine years ago. I don't want the same setting, I don't want the same story, I don't want the same Max. If Rockstar bought the rights its because they thought they could do something different with it and they did.

          They made Max believable, cause I gotta tell you, that skinny ass Max NEVER felt like an ass-kicker. I was never convinced that his voice went with that body, even though I know Max was modeled after the voice actor.

          Nope, this is a character that is run down, out of luck and out of time. The presentation although annoying (I will grant you that) is essential, why? cause we are supposed to be in Max's head. This is guy that drinks like mule and takes pain killers like his eating M&M's, his probably hallucinating 24/7 and he is in a country like Brazil where he doesn't understand a THING, he might as well be in Wonderland...no, the setting and the story are spot on.

          He is NOT a super hero and that is what I loved about the game play. He aint Master chief or Duke Nuke'em He can take 2 guns guns that's it! If he falls , he has to pick himself up, he has to look for cover and bullet time should be used sparingly.

          I don't get how "gamers' PRAISE games like Dark Souls for one hit kills by skeletons, which historically are cannon fodder, but if it takes you 6 hours to go up some stairs cause 3 skeletons are kicking your ass, this is the sign of a great game and it gets bought in flocks.

          But cause Max is overweight, which he should be. his older and beat down. I'm surprised he hasn't eaten a bullet by now. The game gets no love.

          Yet another reason why we keep getting sequels and there is nothing new under the sun to say nothing about how people think.

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        June 18, 2012 6:47 PM

        You know it IS possible for people to have different opinions/tastes in video games.

        Yours, unfortunately, is terrible.

        Unless you're trolling, in which case, bravo.

        Oh, and I fail to see how borrowing/renting a game makes someone's opinion invalid, not throwing your money away on trash games is smart consumerism, IMO.

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          June 19, 2012 6:21 AM

          No your opinion is terrible.

          IF you didn't buy it. Then please don't leave opinions.
          That's the bottom line.
          You Tubbing it, and borrowing, renting it and bulling shitting that's posing.

          Put your money where your mouth is.

          Otherwise go back to playing COD and holding up the status quo.

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      June 18, 2012 1:17 PM

      I own and finished it on the pc.

      MP1 is still my high point of the series, not just cus it's got Kung Fu 3.0. MP3 just has too many unskippable cutscenes pretending they're not loading screens. I've finished it once and just can't stand waiting through all those damn cutscenes again.

      MP is pretty shallow affair. It's alright but there's no depth here.

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        June 19, 2012 8:38 AM

        Whoa, unskippable cut scenes? What is this, 1998? :-P

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          June 19, 2012 8:49 AM

          The levels are huge so this is how they mask the loading of the levels. Once loaded, no more but this is how they did it.

          I think it might be a shortcoming of hardware and therefore a decision was made to do it this way in order to keep the flow of the game going. Its not a problem if you are playing the first time around since you are engrossed in the game and story but can get annoying once you've seen it all.

          However the game does a decent job of auto saving at key points so its not horrible.
          I don't know if installing the game to hard drive makes things a little better.

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      June 18, 2012 10:27 PM

      It really is a crying shame that this game isn't more popular. its one of my favorite single player games and the MP isn't bad ether.

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      June 19, 2012 8:37 AM

      Weird that I had no interest in playing this game. I'll probably pick it up in a year or two at a discount. Seems cool, though.

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      June 19, 2012 1:27 PM

      As soon as it goes on STEAM SUMMER SALE, I will be buying it. I really try not to pay full price these days with very full exceptions...like if HL3 were to actually ever be released or maybe STALKER 3. Those would be a couple titles worth full price, day one purchase. For that matter, the next Fall Out will most likely be a full pricer as well. Ok, that is it for now. Those three I will pay fill price on the day of release. Others, 1. you have to release on STEAM and 2. you have to wait for it to go on sale on STEAM.

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        June 20, 2012 7:08 AM

        You'll need Stalker 2 before the third.

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      June 20, 2012 9:51 AM

      Max Payne 3 did very well compared to what it was going up against in Diablo 3. I loved Max Payne 3, its one of my favorite rock star games I have played that I actually finished. Great Story telling. Hopefully the sales don't dictate that Rockstar stops making another sequel of their franchise.

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      July 5, 2012 12:37 AM

      Best Buy and Future Shop are selling Max Payne 3 in Canada for $40 for the next week, so I decided to get a copy. I watched some footage of my bro playing it and I'm intrigued. I'm sure Rockstar isn't hurting for money, but I'd like to see this franchise continue.

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