Was Max Payne 3 initially set in Russia?

When you came out in 2012, Max Payne 3 was a game that revolutionized the series that started with Remedy Entertainment. In this chapter the protagonist was in fact transported from the iconic New York to Brazil. According to Gamereactor, the game was initially supposed to be set in Russia; to find out was a user on Reddit, such PayneToTheMax, who found a concept art published in 2005/2006. In the image that you will find at the bottom of the news we can see characters like Motocade, Boris, The Butcher and The Angel, which have apparently been misidentified in the GTA forums as a completely new game called Motocade.

This information comes from Johannes Mucke, who worked as a concept artist for Rockstar Vienna. The developer in question claims that when the game was still in development with them, the title was set in Russia. After their closure, Max Payne 3 was passed to Rockstar North who developed the third installment that we all know now.