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Alan Wake 2 Still Hasn’t Earned Back Its Budget

Remedy Entertainment has released its financial statement for the first quarter of 2024, and it looks like survival horror sequel Alan Wake 2 has yet to make back its development and marketing budget.

In the statement, Remedy says that Alan Wake 2, which had sold 1.3 million copies at last count (thus making it the fastest-selling Remedy game), has “recouped a significant part of the development and marketing expenses” as of Q1 2024, i.e. not the entirety of said expenses.

However, that hasn’t stopped Remedy reporting improved revenue when compared to the same period a year ago; the Finnish studio says its revenue this quarter was 10.8 million euros, representing a 56.2% increase over last year’s first quarter.

Alan Wake 2 still doesn’t seem to be profitable for Remedy.

Remedy’s financial statement also includes updates on the studio’s ongoing projects, including Control spinoff Codename Condor, which may or may not eventually be called FBC: Firebreak.

Condor is, according to Remedy, in “the final development stage before a game is launched”. The studio says the game’s core loop is “engaging”, and that it will bring a “unique Remedy angle” to the genre (by which it presumably means live-service multiplayer shooters).

As for Control 2, the upcoming sequel to 2019’s mind-bending adventure Control, Remedy says that project will “advance to the production readiness stage” in the latter part of this year.

The upcoming Max Payne remakes, meanwhile, will move into full production later in 2024, while Codename Kestrel is still being refined “in the concept stage”. It’ll likely be a good while before the latter game gets officially unveiled.

Kestrel is being worked on alongside Tencent, which recently increased its investment in Remedy from 5% to almost 15% of the Finnish developer’s shares.

Max Payne shooting in the original version of the game, which is being remade by Remedy
Remedy’s Max Payne remakes will enter full production this year.

Remedy concludes its statement by referring back to the acquisition of the rights to Control from former publisher 505 Games. 

The studio says it can now choose how best to grow Control and Alan Wake at its own discretion, and that it expects revenue and operating profit to grow throughout the rest of the year.

Of course, one of the ways Remedy could generate some more revenue for Alan Wake 2 would be to release the game on Steam, but it’s not clear whether that’ll happen or not.

In a conference call discussing today’s financial results, Remedy is asked outright whether Alan Wake 2 will be made available on other PC platforms, including Steam.

Remedy refuses to be drawn on the answer, though; the studio says that although it acknowledges the “speculation” regarding Alan Wake 2 on Steam, Remedy has nothing to announce on this front at the moment.

Whether or not this happens remains to be seen, but for now, Remedy’s short-term goal will likely be to ensure that Alan Wake 2 can turn a profit. Let’s hope the game’s upcoming DLC can turn that dream into a reality.

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