Remedy’s Alan Wake 2 has “recouped most of its development and marketing expenses,” CEO Tero Virtala announced in its January-September 2024 business review. I speak as someone who would love to see more Alan Wake games made – or at least , a moderately weird and quite decent single-player horror hit – I’m both ecstatic to hear this news and a little concerned that Remedy’s strange forest fairy tale (which came out in October 2023) has yet to break even.
The review notes that the reporting period predates the release of the Lake House expansion for Alan Wake 2 and the physical Deluxe Edition of the game. In other words, it’s possible that these releases helped Alan Wake 2 make up the difference since today’s data was collected.
Remedy’s overall financial picture appears to be heading in the right direction, i.e. up. Their total revenue for the period July-September 2024 increased by 129% compared to the same period a year ago, at EUR 17.9 million, which translated into an operating profit of EUR 2.4 million.
Remedy has taken some steps to strengthen its books. Half of the development of Control 2 is being financed by Annapurna in exchange for the rights to expand the Control and Alan Wake franchises into film and television. The company also recently entered into a convertible loan agreement with Tencent for EUR 15 million. They expect their numbers to improve further by the time the next financial report is released.
The report also includes several updates on Remedy’s projects in development. The recently revealed shooter FBC: Firebreak, a three-player spin-off of Control, will be a “mid-priced” game and is “in full production, focusing on iterating through the core loop and implementing more UI (user interface), to gain more player transparency based on test feedback.” The Max Payne 1 and 2 remakes, which are in development with Rockstar, are “making steady progress into full production.”
There’s also Control 2, whose plot directions are outlined in Alan Wake 2’s Lake House DLC. “Control 2 has made significant progress towards production readiness and is on track to begin full production in 2025.” – adds Virtala. “Many key game features have been implemented to reduce production risk, and workflows and pipelines are being tested in preparation for full production.”
The original Control game appears to have been a commercial success for Remedy, selling four million copies as of February 2024. That same month, Remedy purchased the rights to self-publish future Control games from the original game’s publisher, 505 Games. In its latest financial review, Virtala warns investors that Remedy Control projects will make Remedy less money initially because no publisher steps in, but could make more after release because no publisher cuts costs.
Here are my misguided questions as a financial bignoramus: 1) Is the Alan Wake 2 ad in line with Remedy’s expectations, 2) if not, what steps are they taking to be able to continue justifying the development of eccentric fear-a-argument in this way?
