Remedy Secures Its Connected Universe By Taking Control Of Control

Remedy Entertainment has officially announced that it has acquired the full rights to the Control franchise from 505 Games. The new deal will give Remedy the full rights to Control, its upcoming sequel, and the multiplayer spin-off Codename Condor, with all publishing, distribution, marketing, and other rights licensed to 505 Games reverting back to the developer.

“As part of Remedy’s long-term strategy to have more ownership over our business and the IPs we have created, we have gotten back all rights for Control and the in-development Condor and Control 2,” Remedy CEO Tero Virtala said in a press statement. “Having complete ownership over the Control franchise gives us the freedom to decide the best path forward. We will consider our options carefully, knowing that Control is considered an attractive franchise by many partners.”

Under the deal, 505 Games will continue as the publisher of Control through a transition period ending December 31, 2024, and the deal is valued at $18.4 million. Remedy says this is equal to the amount that 505 Games paid for the development of Condor and Control 2, and includes a “minor” premium. Virtala added that Condor and Control 2 have both “progressed well” in recent months and are nearing another milestone in their respective development phases.

Meanwhile, Alan Wake 2 has reached 1.3 million lifetime sales across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S as of February 2024. This makes it the fastest-selling game released by the developer to date, and while it isn’t profitable yet, it has recouped a significant part of its development and marketing expenses. Alan Wake 2 was also fully funded by Epic–it’s exclusive on PC to the Epic Games Store–and Remedy plans to grow its Alan Wake and Control franchises as part of its long-term Remedy Connected Universe strategy. Due to rights issues on previous games–like Microsoft’s ownership of Quantum Break–Remedy has had to deal with creative blocks on what it can and cannot do with its games, but owning its IPs gives it more freedom to build on this initiative.

The studio is also working on remakes of the first two Max Payne games, and as of October 2023, those games have progressed into the “production readiness stage” of their development. Another upcoming Remedy game is a live-service project under the working title of Vanguard and it has a “tightknit and fast-moving team of seasoned developers from across the world,” working on it.