Max Payne and Alan Wake 2 VA James McCaffrey succumbed to cancer

TMZ confirms an earlier report after some confusion

Marco Wutz | Dec 18, 2023

Max Payne and Alan Wake 2 VA James McCaffrey succumbed to cancer /

It’s now been confirmed by TMZ that James McCaffrey, an actor with some high-profile video game roles under his belt, has succumbed to cancer at the age of 65. Earlier today, his friend Kevin Dillon paid tribute to McCaffrey on Instagram, but as no other source could confirm the actor’s death some confusion around the subject ensued, which has now been cleared up.

According to TMZ, which was in contact with a representative of the deceased, McCaffrey died on Sunday in the presence of friends and family after succumbing to multiple myeloma.

Max Payne 2 bullet time — James McCaffrey has been widely celebrated for his performance as Max Payne / Rockstar Games

While his resume features a long list of movie and TV work, which includes appearances in Law & Order as well as Sex in the City, the gaming community will most remember McCaffrey for being the voice of titular main character Max Payne in the trilogy of games made by Remedy Entertainment (for the first and second installments) and Rockstar Games (for the third entry).

He starred in other Remedy titles as well, playing Zachariah Trench in Control and Alex Casey in Alan Wake – a role he reprised for the latest installment, making it his final video game project. Fans noted the absence of McCaffrey from any promotional events throughout the time leading up to the release of Alan Wake 2, which we must now assume to be explained by failing health or simply a desire to spend his remaining time with family.

Remakes of Max Payne 1 and 2 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S were announced in 2022, when the project was still in an early development phase. McCaffrey’s level of involvement in these remakes is unknown. It’s the same for the planned Alan Wake 2 DLC. If he finished any work on some upcoming project, fans may get to hear his iconic voice afresh one last time – for the moment, though, only this is certain: James McCaffrey will always live on through the characters he brought to life over the years.

Published Dec 18, 2023

MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg