16th October 2025 Rewatch Today's Control Livestream w. Brooke Maggs & Juha Vainio

This afternoon, after dealing with the technical gremlins that prevented the previous livestream from going ahead, Remedy was back with their sixth Control broadcast, centred around the game's narrative.

Once again, Julius Fondem (Community Manager & Publishing Coordinator) was in the streaming chair with Vida Starčević (Senior Community Manager) providing off-screen and chat support. They were joined by the Brooke Maggs (Principal Narrative Designer) throughout and Juha Vainio (Executive Producer) for the first half. 

It was a really fun session! Throughout their three-hour play through, the devs talked about a range of topics including different kinds of AI (the good kind and the bad), the surprising relevation of a buff doctor, establishing a balanced tone for Control, door symbols at the motel, plus a lot more.

In their sixth outing, they settle the score on some side missions and begin the second expansion, AWE in which they meet a familiar face and return to the shores of Bright Falls.

If you haven't watched any of the livestreams so far, the developers have stepped into the FBC with Juha Vainio (Executive Producer) and Miro Vesterinen (Lead Environment Artist). Helped sort out the Hiss situation in Maintenance with Teemu Huhtiniemi (Principal Level Designer), and Victor Sermin (Build Engineer). And most recently, they took over Fridge Duty and declogged those pesky mould growths with Lucile Dolbeau (Senior QA Tester) and Ilmari Timonen (Senior Rigging Artist).

As they dived deeper into the story, they learnt the truth about how the Federal Bureau of Control assigns its Directors with James Tottman (Principal VFX Artist) and Anna Mellor Meecham (Senior Cinematic Designer). Before the gremlins, they tackled The Ashtray Maze with Anne-Marie Grönroos (Lead Level Designer) and Petri Alanko (Composer) 

For all that goodness, make sure to check out the livestream, above! Plus check out future streams for giveaways.

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15th October 2025 Poets of the Fall Releases New Notebook w. Signed Card

Today, Poets of the Fall (also known by their fictional alter ego, Old Gods of Asgard), released a new custom notebook. Though perfect for the writers and artists in our community, the real reason we're posting about it is that the book will be shipped with a hand signed note from the band's three founding members.

The best part is that the notebook is just 12,99 € (£11.29), making it the band's most affordable way to get yourself signed merchandise from the band if you've been on the lookout. 

The matt black book, features the Poets of the Fall logo and morpho symbol in striking gold above the quote, “what are Dreams if not Light to let you see The Beauty of Shadows.” At present, the line doesn't link up to any published songs at the moment, providing a potential teaser into the group's upcoming album. It's hardcover book is A5 and packed with 192 pages.  

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Inside, the letter, a paper insert allowing you to keep it with the notebook or display, reads, “Hello, Welcome to your very own Chronicle of Dreams, and congratulations on giving yourself this little gift of peace. That's no small thing in a world that's always tugging your sleeve, demanding your time and attention. Choosing to pause, and to put pen to paper to give yourself a moment can really make a difference. We hope this book lets you breathe a little easier when the days feel crowded, and helps you untangle your thoughts when they're knotted. May it catch the sparks of your ideas before they slip away, your midnight's racing thoughts when sleep eludes you, and keep safe the memories you'll want to return to later. This is your sanctuary and your realm of creativity. Treat it like a confidant, a lantern, a mirror. Whether you draw, write, doodle or paint, scrapbook, or fill it with stickers and just generally weird, fun stuff, anything goes, make it your own. These pages will never judge you. Enjoy.” 

The notebook is currently in stock, with international shipping available. Learn more about the product on the band's official store page, HERE. 

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14th October 2025 Behind the Voice Talks To Markus Kaarlonen and Olli Tukiainen from Poets of the Fall (aka Old Gods of Asgard)

Last month, Behind the Voice published their interview with Markus Kaarlonen and Olli Tukianen from Poets of the Fall and their fictional alter ego, Old Gods of Asgard. 

Throughout their fifty-minute conversation, Abhi, Markus and Olli reflect on the band's history from Late Goodbye, through to standing on the stage at The Game Awards. They explore topics as their favourite Remedy game, their longest guitar solo, and discovering their songs in game. Check out the full conversation below or on the Behind the Voice YouTube channel, HERE. 

Although two members of the band were involved in Remedy’s original Max Payne, the official collaboration between the studio and Poets of the Fall began in 2003 with Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. For that title, the band wrote their first song, Late Goodbye, based on a poem by Sam Lake, following a conversation between Lake and Marko Saaresto about the formation of the band.

Nearly a decade later, Poets of the Fall returned for Remedy’s next major project, Alan Wake, contributing two original tracks, The Poet and the Muse and Children of the Elder God, under their in-game alias, Old Gods of Asgard. Their song War, from the Twilight Theater album, also featured in the game. In 2012, they returned once more for Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, with Balance Slays the Demon and The Happy Song (the latter also appearing on Temple of Thought). Around this time, the exclusive single Can You Hear Me from their Alchemy Vol. 1 collection was included in Remedy’s mobile debut, Death Rally.

Despite continuing their creative relationship, external circumstances prevented the inclusion of a dedicated track in Quantum Break. However, fans can still catch echoes of their sound in the reimagined version of The Labyrinth, featured on the Clearview album.

It wasn’t until 2019’s Control that the band and studio reunited in full force. Their track, Take Control, played a central role in the iconic Ashtray Maze sequence, while The Dark Disquiet, released under in their album, Ultraviolet, also made an appearance.

For Alan Wake 2, they returned with three unique songs custom-made for the adventures; Dark Ocean Summoning, Herald of Darkness, and Anger's Remorse. A few weeks after the launch of the game, the Old Gods of Asgard debut album, Rebirth - Greatest Hits is being released, nicely coinciding with their performance on The Game Awards stage. 

Over the past couple of years, Abhi has spoken to an array of Remedy actors and developers including Ilkka Villi (Alan Wake, Mr Scratch, Thomas Zane), David Harewood (Warlin Door), Matthew Porretta (Alan Wake, Dr Casper Darling, Mr Scratch) Christina Cole (Christina Cole) Janina Gavankar (FBC Agent Kieran Estevez), Shawn Ashmore (Jack Joyce, Tim Breaker), and Courtney Hope (Beth Wilder, Jesse Faden). He has also crossed into the development side, speaking to Sam Lake (Creative Director) Kyle Rowley (Game Director).

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13th October 2025 Remedy Readjusts Profits Expectation for 2025

 Before the weekend, Remedy issued a statement which sees their estimated Q3 2025 key financial figures revised following lower than expected performance. 

The statement, published on their investors page reads, “Due to weak sales of FBC: Firebreak, Remedy lowers its long-term sales forecast for the game. Consequently, the company recognizes a non-cash impairment of EUR 14.9 million, representing a majority of the game’s capitalized development costs and allocated purchased publishing and distribution rights. The impairment has no effect on Remedy’s cash position.”

They later go on to add further context, stating that, “FBC: Firebreak was launched on June 17th. In its 2025 half-year financial report, Remedy reported that FBC: Firebreak’s launch-phase consumer sales underperformed. After the launch, the company rapidly developed the game based on player feedback and released multiple updates. On September 29th, Remedy released the first Major Update titled Breakpoint for FBC: Firebreak, which brought significant changes to the game’s core experience. Despite improved player and sales metrics after the update, sales have not reached Remedy’s internal targets.”

While we don't usually post about the financials side, the news has been picked up by media sites including PC Gamer, GamesIndustry.biz, Eurogamer, and more in recent days. I've been playing with the idea of posting about it, but essentially there's an aspect of the report that caught my eye. With the industry in somewhat of a crisis mode, with news of layoffs, mismanagement, closures, and buy outs, bad news is easy to find, and maybe at times sought*. But while the news is not the best, the report ends on a hopeful note. 

In earlier financial reports preceding the game's launch, Remedy stated that the game not meeting targets was a possible risk, particularly as their first self-published title and their first multiplayer title. But while the studio's work has collected international rewards and recovered development costs, they've also been a slow burn to get there. Part of that may be the cost of games in the high cost of living, the time commitment required by modern games, or just too much choice. For Alan Wake 2, it was also because the game was so much more expensive to develop, costing at 70 million euros overall.

So, FBC Firebreak requiring more than expected isn't a huge surprise, especially as the feedback early on focused on more content already promised in further updates. Unlike Remedy's other titles, it would grow over time with new material, and become more fleshed out. The major factor about that is time, and fortunately that's something that the studio is willing to give.  

In the final sentence, Remedy's CEO, Tero Virtala, mentions that “While we balance future investments to the title, we continue developing and improving the game in line with our updated long-term sales forecast”. In an industry which is currently overly-responsive to the point of being downright cruel at times, it's a nice change of pace to actually see a developer take value in their teams, and show support and confidence in those projects that need a little extra time to find their ground. I know it takes more than that, money is of course a factor, but it's nice to see the studio make the effort to go against the trends in the industry at the moment. 

You can read the full statement, HERE. Plus, mark your calendars for October 28th for Remedy's Q3 2025. Each quarter we read through the reports and do notes because we're nerds. 

*Kind of like how 2016 was a bad year, so everyone was focused on the next news story that would prove how relentlessly bad it was. I remember hearing about Argentina's spontaneous plague of locusts as though it was the most on-brand thing that year could bring.

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