be the core mechanic for their game. They decided to position it as a resource for players to use. With an expertise in computing because of their demoscene background, the team crafted their own game engine for the game. Sam Lake was appointed as the game's writer. He introduced elements commonly found in crime fiction and film noir into the game. The team wanted to use real-life photos for the game's texture, though this was initially met with heavy resistance by the artists. In 1999, the designers travelled from Finland to New York to research the city and get ideas for environments. Accompanied by two former New York Police Department bodyguards, they took thousands of photographs for mapping. The company spent most of its time in 2000 further refining the game's graphics. Having delayed its release twice, Max Payne received critical acclaim when it was released in July 2001. It was noted for its heavy focus on story and atmosphere as an action game, which was traditionally more gameplay oriented. The game was a commercial success, selling more than seven million copies. Apogee outsourced the development of Max Paynes console versions to Rockstar Games, whose parent company Take-Two Interactive spent $10 million to purchase the intellectual property rights to the franchise; Rockstar still holds the rights to Max Payne as of 2021. As part of the acquisition agreement, Remedy would return to develop a sequel for the game. Take-Two gave Remedy plenty of creative freedom. The development cycle for the sequel game was much shorter than the original. The team made use of most of the existing gameplay mechanics and expanded them. Lake returned to write the game's script. He went to the Theatre Academy of Finland to study screenwriting to be able to write a more "ambitious" story. Lake's script had more than 600 pages, five times that of the original. Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne received critical acclaim when it was released in October 2003, 27 months after Max Paynes release. However, it sold poorly. Take-Two cited the game's "continued disappointing sales" as one of the reasons for the company's forecast of a drop in sales revenue for 2004. Remedy was no longer involved with the franchise after Max Payne 2, but Rockstar consulted them when Max Payne 3 reached its final stage of production. Partnership with Microsoft (2006–2016) After working for seven years on