Following the massive success of Alan Wake 2, Finnish game development studio Remedy has regained all the rights to the Control IP, including the in-development Condor and Control 2. The rights previously belonged to 505 Games, which published the original game.
The decision was announced on Feb. 28 in a post on Remedy’s website, where the company elaborated on the financial side of the deal, as well as what it could mean for the future of Control. Remedy wrote that “all publishing, distribution, marketing and other rights to Control, codename Condor, Control 2, and all future Control products” will revert to the company, adding that the Control franchise is in the developer’s core. “Remedy is now in a position to make the right product and business decisions focusing on long-term franchise growth,” the studio said.
The studio further elaborated on what the deal entails. 505 Games will continue to operate business-to-business deals until they expire, and the deal will cost Remedy at most 17 million Euros.
According to Remedy’s chief executive Tero Virtala, Control was a massively successful game for the studio, selling over four million copies and generating 100 million Euros in net revenue shared between Remedy and 505. Remedy has established a long-term plan to regain rights to their franchises, the executive explains, and have thus moved forward with this deal which will “give them the freedom to decide the best path forward.” Whether or not Remedy Entertainment will publish their own games from now on or look for other partners will be announced in due time, the company noted.
The Control franchise will receive two new games down the line, including a live-service multiplayer game with the working title Condor, as well as a full sequel to the first game, Control 2. The franchise is part of the extended Alan Wake universe, and considering the success of the most recent entry, Alan Wake 2, we are likely in for a wild ride with the horror sci-fi series.
Remedy isn’t the first company to make the strides of reacquiring its own intellectual property. Earlier this month, IGN reported that Japanese developer FromSoftware gained the rights to the Elden Ring IP from Bandai Namco, giving them full control over the franchise. Remedy also developed the Max Payne franchise, which, as things stand, is owned by Rockstar Games, but there’s news on that IP changing hands as of yet.
