Remedy has taken control of Control: The studio announced today that it has reached a €17 million ($18.4 million) deal with publisher 505 Games, giving it all rights to Control, Control 2 , the multiplayer control spinoff codenamed Condor and “all future” grants control products.”
The deal ends all current publishing agreements between Remedy and 505 Games for the Control series, although 505 will continue to serve as publisher of Control until the end of 2024.
The actual cost of the deal is expected to be less than the €17 million price tag: the announced amount is what 505 has paid so far to develop Control 2 and Condor, plus “a minor premium,” as Remedy said, however, it is “ entitled to offset certain claims from the purchase price and therefore the cash flow effect from the transaction will be significantly lower than the purchase price.”
Remedy said it bought back the rights to the Control series to “negotiate better deals for current and future Control games” and to “weigh the options between self-publishing and a new publishing partner for Condor and Control 2.”
“As part of Remedy's long-term strategy to gain greater ownership of our company and the IPs we create, we have regained all rights to Control and the in-development Condor and Control 2,” said Tero Virtala, CEO of Remedy.
“Because we fully own the Control franchise, we have the freedom to decide the best path forward.” Controlling Control also gives Remedy more control (I'm sorry, I can't hold back) over marketing, sales and ” other business-to-business deals” related to the series.
Although Remedy clearly seems to be looking for a more lucrative deal for the Control series, Virtala also hinted that there was no dispute between Remedy and 505 that triggered the buyback: “As we part ways amicably, I would like to “Thank you to the team at 505 Games for our years of partnership and for helping to establish Control as a gaming franchise with a lot of future potential.”
“Control” was a huge success for Remedy, selling more than four million copies to date and generating sales of over 100 million euros. The sequel, confirmed in November 2022, and the co-op spinoff game “have both made good progress in recent months,” Virtala said, and Remedy expects them to “reach their next stages of development in the first half of 2024.” .
Still, the release may still be a long way off: Remedy warned in October 2023 that the success of Alan Wake 2 has focused the studio's attention on that series, which could impact development plans for the new Control games.
