Today, Remedy announced the acquisition of the full rights to the Control franchise from publisher 505 Games for €17 million, which is basically what the publisher had paid for the development of Control 2 and codename Condor to date. 505 Games will remain the publisher of the original Control through a transition period that will end on December 31, 2024.
Remedy decided to proceed with this operation to ensure better deals for future installments in the franchise. CEO Tero Virtala said:
Having complete ownership over the franchise gives us the freedom to decide the best path forward. We will consider our options carefully, knowing that Control is considered an attractive franchise by many partners. Condor and Control 2 have both progressed well in recent months and we expect these projects to reach their next development stages during the first half of 2024. The development of Condor and Control 2 will continue normally when we consider the best publishing, distribution, and financing model for these projects.
Remedy did something similar when it got the publishing rights of Alan Wake back from Microsoft, which led to the making of Alan Wake 2. The franchises are both part of the so-called Remedy Connected Universe, so it makes sense for the Finnish studio to want complete control over them.
Condor, a PvE multiplayer cooperative spinoff, was announced in June 2021, while the proper Control sequel was confirmed in November 2022. Consistent with these dates, Remedy announced in late October that Condor (like the Max Payne remakes for Rockstar Games) was now in the production readiness stage, while Control 2 was still in the proof of concept stage.
As such, the multiplayer spinoff game is likely to launch one or two years before the mainline sequel. This year, Remedy will be releasing the Alan Wake 2 DLCs Night Springs and Lake House, with the latter possibly featuring some kind of connection to Control.
