7th May 2024 [Press Release] Remedy Entertainment Plc: Codename Kestrel cancelled as Remedy focuses on existing franchises

Remedy Entertainment Plc

Press Release

May 7, 2024, at 9.00 a.m. EEST

Codename Kestrel cancelled as Remedy focuses on existing franchises

Remedy Entertainment Plc (“Remedy”) and Tencent Plc (“Tencent”) have decided to cancel the game project codename Kestrel. Codename Kestrel had a small team working on the early concept stage of a premium cooperative multiplayer game. The game was being developed by Remedy, co-financed with Tencent, and to be co-published with Tencent. The project started in November 2023 as a reboot from an earlier project codenamed Vanguard.

The decision to cancel codename Kestrel allows Remedy to focus more on the other games in its portfolio. Other ongoing game development projects will get experienced developers reassigned from Kestrel. In addition, the planned investment needs for Kestrel are removed and Remedy’s overall recruitment needs are reduced.

“Codename Kestrel showed early promise, but the project was still in its early concept stage. Our other projects have advanced well and are moving to the next stages of development, and increasing focus on them provides us with benefits. We can reallocate talented Kestrel developers to these other game projects, and many of our support functions get additional focus on their operations. This is yet another means to ensure that our game projects continue advancing well. I want to thank our Kestrel development team. Though we decided to discontinue the project for wider Remedy benefits, our team has done good work and provided us with valuable learnings. I also want to thank Tencent for their partnership so far. They have been very professional and supportive,” says Remedy’s CEO Tero Virtala.

REMEDY ENTERTAINMENT PLC

More information

Liisa Eloranta, Senior Investor Relations Specialist

Phone: +358 50 4334992

Email: liisa.eloranta@remedygames.com

Remedy in brief

Remedy Entertainment Plc is a pioneering, globally renowned video game company founded in 1995 and headquartered in Finland with an office in Stockholm, Sweden. Known for its story-driven and visually stunning action games, Remedy has created multiple successful, critically acclaimed franchises such as Control, Alan Wake and Max Payne. Remedy also develops its own Northlight game engine and tools technology that powers many of its games. Remedy’s shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki’s official list. www.remedygames.com 

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7th May 2024 Alan Wake 2 Actor, Doug Cockle Stars In Dungeons & Dragons RPG Show, Natural Six

If you're looking for some escapism in the evenings, you may want to check out this! Doug Cockle, the amazing actor behind Alan Wake 2's FBI Agent Robert Nightingale, is part of the brand new Dungeons & Dragons actual play show, Natural Six, featuring a star-studded cast!

The project first gained industry attention as a highly successful Kickstarter campaign, in which 907 backers pledged £67,932 before fundraising wrapped up in late November.

The YouTube channel has recently gone live and already has three incredible episodes spanning almost three hours each. For each episode, the team comes together again to talk about the recent experience in a Post-Show special. 

Writing about the show, the group reveals that "Natural Six is a team of friendly and dynamic storytellers with unique voices and experiences that we can’t wait to share. You might recognise some of us already or recognise our voices from some of your favourite games. But we can show you a side of us you’ve never seen or heard before. Not all of us are expert D&D players. In fact, prior to Session Zero some had never picked up a d20 before. But with a rich home-brewed world and a charismatic (and devilishly suave) Game Master, Natural Six will take you on a journey filled with moments you’ll never forget. We’ll laugh, we’ll cry, and we'll do it all together. You may know who we are, but you've never seen us like this.""

Each team member also has their own write-up exploring their role-playing background. For Doug Cockle, they reveal, "Known for playing the iconic Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher video game series, Doug has been woven into the fabric of the fantasy role-playing world for over a decade. As a long-time D&D enthusiast dating back to the 1st edition, the voice of the White Wolf is ready to take it to the next level by contributing his unique brand of carefully curated chaos to the world of Reliquiae."

Cockle is joined by Ben Starr (Actor, Final Fantasy XVI's Clive Rosfield), Aoife Wilson (Senior Communications Director at Larian Studios), Hollie Bennett (Destructoid, PlayStation), and Alex Jordan (Actor, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty's Mr Hands), with game master, Harry McEntire (Actor, Xenoblade Chronicles 3's Noah).

You can check out the first episode on the Natural Six YouTube Channel HERE! 

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6th May 2024 Remedy Celebrates 10K Discord Members with Fan Art Competition [NOW OPEN]

Last week, Remedy celebrated its 10,000th member joining the official studio Discord server!

To celebrate the milestone, the community team set up two special events...

The first was an Alan Wake 2 voice event arranged on the server, which went live earlier today. Hosted by Vida Starčević (Senior Community Manager) and Julius Fondem (Community Manager), the discussion featured a number of new names in the spotlight; Dustin Meijer (Gameplay Programmer), Robin Meijer (Development Manager), Karen Soh (Senior Cinematic Designer), and Inka Timonen (QA Tester). We're currently checking around for a recording, as it would be great to have an archive of the discussion. If you have one, please let us know!

That's not all, though! This afternoon, the second event also kicked off: an Alan Wake 2 fan art competition, with the community itself judging. Like with any good competition, there's a range of prizes up for grabs, including an extra special Alan Wake x Airam thermos signed by the development team. 

Interested in jumping in? Check out what you have to do below, and make sure to sign up to the Discord server if you haven't already done so. (You will also find the instructions on the #announcements page there.)

Community fanart competition – you choose the winners!

To celebrate our server passing 10k members, we invite you, creatives of all kinds, to share your talents with us. 

SUBMISSIONS OPEN: Monday, 6th May 2024 16:00 EEST

Here's how to participate:

1️⃣ Submit your fan art in a format of your choice (writing up to 400 words, digital/traditional art, photography, cosplay, etc.) in the #fanart channel starting Monday, 6th May 2024 16:00 EEST. If you like, you can include supporting text of no more than 100 words with your submission.

2️⃣ React to your post with ⭐. Your post will then be sent to #10k-fanart-competition by our bot Barry. In the#10k-fanart-competition channel other community members can vote for your entry by reacting to it with the ⭐ emoji. The first, second, and third place winners will be decided based on which posts/entries have the most star emoji reactions. The community picks the winners!

The prizes will be as follows:
🥇 First place – Oh Deer Diner thermos (in a box signed by the AW2 dev team)
🥈 Second place – Alex Casey themed poster
🥉 Third place – Oh Deer Diner coffee mug
🏅 We will also be giving out a special fourth prize – one entry will be picked as a fourth, bonus winner by the Remedy team, and the winner will receive an FBC pin.

The competition is open worldwide! We only ask that all entrants are 18+ years old. You can read the full terms and conditions here: https://www.remedygames.com/discord-competition-terms-and-conditions. Our general competition privacy policy is here: https://www.remedygames.com/competition-privacy-policy.

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3rd May 2024 Remedy Sweden Celebrates One Year in New Studio

On April 19th, Remedy shared the anniversary celebrations that took place at their Stockholm... home.

While Remedy's Swedish location originally opened its doors in mid-September 2022, a milestone celebrated late last year with a special mixer, this tribute marks one year since they moved into their official home in Södermalm. For the first seven months, the team had been in a temporary studio in the same building while their permanent studio underwent renovations. 

The studio wrote about the milestone on Instagram, "This week marks the one-year anniversary of Remedy's Stockholm office! We had the pleasure of celebrating with our CEO, Tero Virtala, and our CCO, Johannes Paloheimo. With the help of bubbles and cake, we looked back on the achievements and memories we've shared over the past year.Thank you to all our colleagues who supported us and made this possible!"

How Remedy Sweden came about. The trial for a second studio went ahead in 2020, led by the General Manager of the Vanguard (now "Kestal") project, Johannes Mang. After a year in the works, Johannes stated that “the shift to location-agnostic work in the wake of COVID made us realize that Remedy is a state of mind, rather than a place in Finland”. It houses approximately thirty employees on site.

Photographs by Valeria Rossi and Mitra Kasagianni.

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