Remedy leaves Epic in the dark to self-publish Control 2 via a'strategic collaboration agreement' with Annapurna

Remedy will publish Control 2 on its own as part of an "agreement for strategic cooperation" with Annapurna. Annapurna, according to a press release that accompanied the announcement, will provide half the development budget for Control 2 and in exchange gain the rights to adapt Control & Alan Wake for film & television.

Remedy's previous game, Alan Wake 2 was published by Epic Games under an exclusivity deal. Alan Wake 2, despite being good enough to win our Best Story of 2023 Award, along with a bunch of other accolades and awards, seems to have been hindered by the exclusivity agreement from reaching its full potential. By May of this past year, the game hadn't sold enough copies to cover development costs. Epic's CEO recently stated that most of its exclusive deals "were bad investments", so I'm sure Remedy is excited to have its next big game available on Steam right away.

According to a press release, Remedy gets a larger share of revenue from game sales, "after initial investments are recovered, proportionally to the amounts invested", while Annapurna gets a bigger share of profits from future TV and film adaptions. The press release stated that "Remedy will retain full IP rights for Control" and Alan Wake.

Remedy and Annapurna feel like a natural pairing. If you look at the release catalog of Annapurna Interactive, you'll see games like Cocoon or Mundaun that have a strong appreciation for artful surrealism and spookiness. These would make a great pairing with Remedyverse.

Thomas Puha, Remedy's communications director, said in a blog post published alongside the announcement that the agreement "means Remedy can make Control 2 exactly what we want it be, and we now have an incredible partner for us to extend our IPs into other mediums."

Sam Lake, the creative director of Alan Wake 2 who you may have seen in his best light during that musical number on the last Game Awards said he was "absolutely thrilled" (yes!) This is a great opportunity to expand Alan Wake's story and the Remedy Connected Universe beyond games. Annapurna is the perfect partner to help us make this dream a reality."