Max Payne 3 is the third game in the bestselling Max Payne franchise of third person shooter games published by notorious game studio Rockstar Games. However, this is the first game in the series to be both developed and published by Rockstar-the previous installments were only published by Rockstar and were developed by Remedy Entertainment.It also includes an online multiplayer feature that allows up to 16 players to play the game at once together.
The game was originially scheduled for a late 2009 relaease, but was sidelined by prolonged development delays until 2011, when in early September a March 2012 release was announced. This is likely due to the extensive research conducted by the game developers to get the most accurate depictions of Brazil, where the game is set, which incolved the effort of all the international offices of Rockstar.
When Max Payne 3 was finally released on May 15, 2012, it topped off the largest and boldest marketing campaign in the history of Rockstar to that point, which included prominent spots during the telecast of the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final and other major programming, in addition to outdoor campaigns, Twitter contests, and a comic book series. The game was released to critical acclaim, with reviewers loving its story and action, while also noting its sharp stylistic and tonal departure from its predescessors.According to Take-Two Interactive, three million copies of Max Payne 3 were shipped out its first week of sales. A year after its intial release,the game had managed to sell four million copies.It later went on to win Best Animation at the 2012 Inside Gaming Awards.