Remedy acquires the rights to the Control series from 505 Games – includes Control 2 and Condor

29.02.2024 - 10:53 / thesixthaxis.com / Tero Virtala

Remedy Entertainment has acquired the full rights to the Control franchise as a whole from 505 Games, including both the already-released 2019 game, and any future projects. Those games include Control 2, co-op game Condor and anything else related to Control that Remedy cooks up.

Since 505 Games published and funded the development of Control and its upcoming sequel and spin-off there’s some renumeration due, with Remedy paying approximately €17 million to 505 Games, which accounts for the funding provided so far for Condor and Control 2, with a small premium. The two companies had initially entered into a 50:50 split co-development partnership.

505 Games will also continue to publish the original Control through the end of 2024 – 5 years and change on from its release – and will continue to handle B2B deals for control until those have expired. After that point, Remedy will be the publisher for the game and 505 will no longer receive royalties or have any further rights.

Remedy’s asked for this freedom in order to give themselves a fresh chance to either self-publish the games or find a new publishing partner for these two games. Given the success of the first game, which sold over 4 million copies, and all the acclaim of Alan Wake 2, which is part of the shared universe, they also feel they’re in a better place to negotiate for a bigger and better deal. There’s also just the fact that Remedy would like to own the rights to their stuff.

Remedy’s CEO Tero Virtala says: “As part of Remedy’s long-term strategy to have more ownership over our business and the IPs we have created, we have gotten back all rights for Control and the in-development Condor and Control 2. Having complete ownership over the Control 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.”

There’s no meaningful indication of how Condor and Control 2’s development is going, but Virtala says they “expect these projects to reach their next development stages during the first half of 2024.” What stage is that? Potentially a shift from pre-production to full production?

Virtala concluded, “As we amicably part ways, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the 505 Games team for our partnership over the years and for helping to establish Control as a gaming franchise with a lot of future potential.”

We gave Control 9/10 in our review, here’s what Aran had to say at the time:

“Control is one of the best story-focused single player games in years. Its unique mix of surrealism, sci-fi and mystery draws you in, but doesn’t give everything away, and the combat is fantastically varied and provides just enough challenge.