According to Remedy’s first quarter financial report, despite being the darling of last year’s ESG award ceremony, Alan Wake 2 still faces challenges in recovering its budget.
Remedy Entertainment’s financial statement for the first quarter of 2024 reveals that their survival horror sequel, Alan Wake 2, has yet to fully cover its development and marketing costs.
The statement indicates that Alan Wake 2, which boasted 1.3 million copies sold, making it Remedy’s fastest-selling game, has managed to “recoup a significant portion of the development and marketing expenses” by Q1 2024, though not the entirety, meaning the game is still a financial failure for the company.
Nevertheless, Remedy reports improved revenue compared to the same period last year. The Finnish studio disclosed a revenue of 10.8 million euros for this quarter, marking a notable 56.2% increase over last year’s first quarter.
Gamers have criticized Alan Wake 2 because Remedy employed the controversial ESG/DEI consultation firm, Sweet Baby Inc, throughout its development. The game, resembling an interactive movie, launched exclusively as a digital title, initially excluding consoles and debuting as an exclusive to the Epic Game Store.
Previously, we highlighted how despite receiving multiple awards at Geoff Keighley’s Activism Award Ceremony, Alan Wake 2 quickly faced a steep 50% discount just months after its release.
Additionally, it’s noteworthy that one of the main characters, Saga Anderson, previously depicted as a Swedish woman within an easter egg inside Remedy’s previous title Quantum Break. The character underwent a radical transformation in Alan Wake 2 to that of a Black woman.
This change coincided with another title developed in conjunction with Sweet Baby Inc, South of Midnight, which also altered its protagonist from White to Black. But of course, this is purely coincidental after all. Sweet Baby Inc is notorious for employing anti-White racists who employ fear tactics to get their way.
Despite facing financial challenges, likely due to an inflated budget, Remedy shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, they’re ramping up their game production, with more titles in development than ever before. Currently, they’re gearing up to release a DLC expansion for Alan Wake 2, which, at the time of writing, remains exclusively on the Epic Games Store, backed by Tencent funding.
Remedy mentioned that Alan Wake 2 has sold 1.3 million copies but also elected not to disclose the game’s current sales figures in this latest report, suggesting that they have not seen significant growth since the beginning of February.
The team is also gearing up to extend its Control franchise with a spin-off known as “Codename Condor,” which seems to be nearing the end of its development cycle. According to the studio, the game’s core gameplay loop is captivating, promising to deliver a distinctive Remedy touch to the genre. It’s speculated that this could entail a live-service approach, but given the disappointing outcome of the last woke live-service title, I’m not particularly invested.
A sequel to 2019’s Control is currently in the proof of concept stage. However, given that the previous game was more or less a tech demo with pseudo ray tracing and support for NVIDIA’s DLSS technology I’m apprehensive about what the sequel may offer.
Remedy also plans to tarnish a classic by remaking Max Payne 1 & 2, with full production slated to begin later this year. While fans of the iconic franchise may initially be excited by the announcement, given the current trends in game development, there’s a concern that the remake may deviate from the original titles to promote a specific agenda, potentially resulting in yet another disappointment for fans.
Particularly noteworthy is the fact that over the past decade, Remedy has gained a reputation for delivering lackluster gameplay in their titles. Today, the studio seems to prioritize graphical fidelity over player enjoyment. Alan Wake 2 exemplifies this approach by pushing the limits of modern gaming with its demanding PC requirements, largely due to its utilization of mesh shaders.
However, the gameplay experience feels more akin to navigating an on-rails detective movie than engaging with a traditional video game.
Remedy is set to remake the iconic Max Payne 1 & 2 with the backing of Rockstar Games as the publisher. However, I have serious doubts about the game’s engagement, let alone its ability to avoid feminist propaganda, especially since it will likely be developed using Remedy’s in-house Northlight Engine.
Yet, it’s worth noting that Rockstar Games achieved something remarkable with the franchise’s third installment, built upon their “RAGE” engine, so perhaps anything is possible.
Despite the financial setbacks of Alan Wake 2, the studio is intensifying its work and expanding more rapidly, largely due to Tencent’s increased involvement. Tencent recently tripled its stake in the company, officially going from owning 5% to 14.8% of Remedy’s shares as of April 24th, 2024.
Certainly, if Remedy were to release Alan Wake 2 on the Steam store, it would likely generate some sales. However, it’s amusing to note that despite Epic Games’ investment in making it an EGS exclusive and despite selling over one million copies, the game has failed to break even.
Given the fact that Alan Wake 2 wouldn’t be any different if it were to release on Netflix, the involvement of Sweet Baby Inc for consultation, and the suspicious transformation of the second protagonist, Saga Anderson, from White to Black, I can’t help but derive some satisfaction from their financial struggles, as this game continues to set a trend that anything involved with Sweet Baby Inc ends up being a commercial failure.
In fact, I hope it continues, as they seem destined to produce another lackluster Control entry and tarnish the Max Payne franchise.
