Remedy Entertainment has confirmed Alan Wake has not yet generated any royalties, despite it being one of the studio’s fastest-selling games of all time. In its latest financial results, Remedy CEO Tero Virtala confirmed Control and “older Alan Wake titles” are currently holding up the company’s royalties, as sales of Alan Wake 2 slowly, steadily make back the game’s development and marketing budget.
Importantly, Remedy seems unconcerned by the slower pace of recouping costs, and is sticking to plans to continue expanding the “Remedy Connected Universe” with new titles, including a sequel to Control, and a three-player co-op spin-off to Control, named FBC: Firebreak.
Alan Wake 2 was reported to have a budget of around 70 million euros total (development and marketing). At the time, it was noted as being one of the biggest budget cultural exports for Finland. You can see the payoff for this budget in the game’s high quality – its live action sequences, its performances, its set pieces – but it does naturally mean the game needs to make more money to become profitable.
After a running start, Alan Wake 2 is slowly getting there. Per Remedy, it’s now “recouped most of its development and marketing expenses” and in the coming years, there is full confidence it will eventually make back its budget, and begin generating profit for Remedy.
Read: Alan Wake 2’s Lake House DLC is a vicious ode to creativity
With the fast-moving pace of the modern games industry, plenty of studios have recently delivered snappier judgements on games. We’ve seen a raft of business calls where underperforming games are immediately labelled disappointments, in a way that discourages any further uptake. In one recent, rare case, the underperforming Concord was taken offline just two weeks after launch, and later cancelled.
Alan Wake 2 has not been the gut-busting success Remedy Entertainment hoped for on launch. While it achieved high critical acclaim and a range of awards, it had sold 1.3 million copies as of February 2024, three months after launch. This was a record for Remedy, but as mentioned, the higher budget of the game means it needs to eclipse these numbers to earn profit.
As made clear in Remedy’s latest financial report, the company remains confident Alan Wake 2 will eventually earn back its full budget, and begin generating royalties. Until then, it won’t be making any snappy judgements, and will instead progress with building the RCU, and focussing on its biggest upcoming releases.
FBC: Firebreak is set to launch in 2025. Control 2 is now progressing well in the production readiness stage, with full production set to kick off in 2025. Max Payne 1 & 2 Remake is also making “steady progress” in full production.
In addition to all of this, Remedy also recently sold the rights to produce Control and Alan Wake film and/or television productions to Annapurna. We’re yet to hear more about these potential projects, but there’s certainly much excitement about their potential – and realistically, a popular show or film will likely inspire new interest in the games.
What’s most clear from Remedy’s latest report is the company is playing the long game with its biggest franchises, leaning into clever deals to ensure its future – including a new issuance of 811,100 special rights (share entitlements) to Tencent – and biding time to recoup its full costs. In the coming year, Remedy expects its revenue and operating profit to increase, thanks to these choices.
