Remedy’s latest financials aren’t too bad considering Firebreak flopped, which the CEO puts down to its ‘structurally more efficient budgets’

Control Resonant screenshot — (Image credit: Remedy)

Remedy, the creative geniuses behind Alan Wake, Control, and Max Payne, to name a few, has always been an odd studio. Despite making banger after banger (mostly), the web of business dealings seems to have it trapped in purgatory. Well, the studio has published its latest financial results, and they're much better than I'd thought they would be.

As reported by GamesIndustry.biz, Remedy's overall revenue for the first quarter was €13.1 million (down 1.9%), while its operating profit was €1 million, down 23% compared to €1.3 million for the same quarter last year.

Obviously, that's not exactly sunshine and rainbows, as you usually want your profits to at least stay the same, if not increase. But at the end of last year, Remedy's ill-fated FBC: Firebreak, a multiplayer Control spin-off, was the chief culprit for a €16.4 million loss. This saw the company issue a 'profit warning' and CEO, Tero Virtala, stepped down with immediate effect.

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To make up for the decreases in overall revenue and operating profit, game sales and royalties rose. Not to get too stuck in the weeds, but Remedy got a nice royalty payout after Alan Wake 1 and 2 launched on Amazon Luna (yes, it's still going). Control has continued to beat its sales numbers each year since its launch, and that's only got a boost with the long-awaited sequel Control Resonant nearly here.

"Remedy has a pivotal year ahead, and we are off to a good start," explained new CEO Jean-Charles Gaudechon, discussing the results. "Our first quarter was profitable, our games on the market performed to our expectations and we're making steady progress with our development projects. Delivering a high-quality Control Resonant with a successful launch is our top priority and we are on track for our 2026 launch."

"We have a studio with world-class talent and a track record in delivering multi-award-winning titles at structurally more efficient budgets compared to many of our peers. The studio is the right size for the ambitions ahead of us, and our focus now is on execution."

While Firebreak wasn't a financial success, it evidently didn't see Remedy place all its eggs in a volatile live-service basket as we've seen from other studios—it was intentionally smaller in scale. Now Resonant is walking up to the plate as a self-published game after buying the rights from 505 Games for €17 million. Fingers crossed it'll become profitable much faster than the critically acclaimed Alan Wake 2, which took more than a year and 2 million sales to manage that (in part due to the deal with Epic Games).

Rory has made the fatal error of playing way too many live service games at once, and somehow still finding time for everything in between. Sure, he’s an expert at Destiny 2, Call of Duty, and more, but at what cost? He’s even sunk 1,000 hours into The Elder Scrolls Online over the years. At least he put all those hours spent grinding challenges to good use over the years as a freelancer and guides editor. In his spare time, he’s also an avid video creator, often breaking down the environmental design of his favourite games. If you can’t track him down, he’s probably lost in a cave with a bunch of dwarves shouting “rock and stone” to no end.