Control and Alan Wake developer Remedy Entertainment has announced a new “strategic partnership” with publisher Annapurna, which will see it “co-finance” development of Control 2 in a rather unique deal. While Annapurna will not publish the game, it will instead gain the rights to create TV and movie spin-offs from the Control and Alan Wake IP.
Control is one of the best action games of the last few years, and its sequel is hotly-anticipated. Alongside the critically-acclaimed reality-bending game, Remedy has more recently released Alan Wake 2, the sequel to its paranormal horror game. It’s safe to say that it has some impressive, popular IP under its belt, and it appears to be leveraging that in a new deal with Annapurna to secure funding for Control 2.
“What does [this deal] mean for you, our dear fans? Above all it means Remedy is able to make Control 2 exactly the game we want it to be, while we now also have an incredible partner to extend our IPs to other mediums. We are also going to be publishing Control 2 ourselves,” Remedy says in a statement. So, despite Annapurna having published some major hits in recent years such as Stray, Cocoon, and Neon White, it won’t be distributing Control 2, despite stumping up a lot of cash for its development.
In a separate press release for investors, it specifically confirms that Annapurna will fund 50% of the game’s development budget. It also says that “Remedy will receive a greater revenue share from game sales after the initial investments have been recouped, proportional to the amounts invested. Conversely, Annapurna will receive a greater revenue share from the audiovisual productions.”
While Annapurna is widely-regarded for its work in games, it is also a well-established and successful media company that has worked on films such as Zero Dark Thirty and American Hustle.
It is certainly a unique partnership, but it sounds like a win-win for fans of Remedy’s work. Annapurna’s financial help should help make Control 2 an even better videogame, and we also get to see the worlds of Alan Wake and Jesse Faden expand into new mediums.
However, don’t go thinking this injection of cash for Control 2 is going to see it land on your PC in the near future – the game, and the Control multiplayer spinoff codenamed Condor, sound like they’re both still a fair way off. “The Control 2 development team is working full steam ahead on the game. We know you are eager for news on the game (and Condor!), but you are going to have to wait a while for that,” Remedy’s statement reads. You can check out the full statement here.
Until we get to play (or watch) something new in either the Control or Alan Wake series, why not check out the best single-player games right now. Alternatively, check out what’s arriving in the more immediate future with our upcoming PC games guide.
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