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.
