In
a new Gamasutra feature interview, the Rockstar VP and
GTA producer explains one reason the company is slow to sequel -- and why we're seeing
Max Payne 3 rather than
Bully 2 in 2012.
"Basically we have been meaning to start [
Max Payne 3] for a while, but we have limited bandwidth and limited studios, and more games to make than we've started. So suddenly it was a good slot," said Dan Houser, explaining why it took the company eight years to follow up on
Max Payne 2.
"Also, contrary to a lot of people, we like to take a little bit of time at the end of a game before starting a sequel, so we can wait for the excitement or disappointment and everything else of the experience to shake down and really see what we should do in the next game," he said.
Max Payne 3's development is being led by Rockstar Vancouver, the studio most recently primarily responsible for the creation of
Bully.
Given that philosophy, said Houser, "we knew that we didn't want to start doing the
Bully sequel instantly at that second with those guys -- even though it is a property that, like
Max, we adore and might come back to in the future. There was just no impetus to do that then. "
"So we said, 'You can do
Max, and then we will see what we can do with
Bully.' So it was really waiting for the slot to open up and the group to open up to at least start work on it."
The full interview, in which Houser speaks about the
GTA series' creative bible, discusses fan reaction to the
Max Payne 3 reveal, and what the developer learned from
Red Dead Redemption,
is live now on Gamasutra.
