This story was updated at 3pm GMT to reflect the announcement of Epic Games Publishing.
Control studio Remedy Entertainment has signed publishing agreements with Epic Games for the company’s next two unannounced games.
Epic Games Publishing was announced on Thursdayand claimed to have “the most developer-friendly terms in the industry.”
Remedy’sSam Lakesaid of the deal: “Epicunderstands what it takes to make a big game. They want to give us full creative freedom.”
The first Remedy project in the deal is a “AAA multi-platform game” already in pre-production, the company said, while the second is a “smaller-scale” project set in the same franchise. Both projects are being developed on Remedy’s proprietary Northlight game engine and tools.
The games will be released for next-gen consoles andPCin “the next few years,” Remedy said. The Finnish studio will retain ownership of the unannounced games’ IP, while revenue will be split with Epic.
We’re working on something exciting, something big. With@EpicGamesas our publisher, we have incredible resources and full creative freedom. Thrilled about this opportunity. That said, for now that’s all I can tell you.@remedygameshttps://t.co/61Bl2CqIbs
Remedy previously signed a dealto sell Control exclusively via the Epic Games Storeon PC. Epic reportedly paid around $10 million.
In its latest earnings results released in February,Remedy said that work on its unannounced game project was “proceeding well”under a team of around 20 people.
It’s unlikely that the “smaller-scale” project referenced in today’s announcement is CodenameVanguard, the service-based multiplayer game it’s working on with around 15 people, since that is not being powered by its Northlight engine.
Remedy previously said the only other in-development projects at the studio were the single-player campaign forSmileGate’s Crossfire X shooter for Xbox Oneand two paidControlexpansions set for release this year.
Remedy CEO Tero Virtala said in February’s results that Control had been “a major achievement” for the company, which he said, “proves the capabilities of our team and technology.”
Virtala pointed toControl’s strong reviewsand said that although the game’s relatively low marketing spend may have impacted launch sales, post-launch performance was at “a good level”.
“There are still a lot of potential gamers who have yet to discover Control, and we are gradually reaching them,” he said.
Remedy will continue to develop its proprietary Northlight game engine with a team of 40 people, the CEO said.
With the exception of Vanguard, all of Remedy’s game projects are built on Northlight’s game engine, including new technology and tools developed for Control, and new systems enabling online functionality.
Control directorMikael Kasurinentold VGC in 2019 thatRemedy is now aiming to create a sense of “continuity” between its games, so that they can be seen as a “shared experience.”
Remedy now owns the rights to both Alan Wake and Control, while the IP for 2016Xbox Oneexclusive Quantum Break remains underMicrosoft’s control.
