This evening, Remedy Entertainment surprised fans with a press release announcing that they have acquired the full rights for the Control IP from publishing partner 505 Games.
With the purchase, the publishing agreements for Control, Condor (codename), and Control 2 have been terminated by mutual agreement.
The maximum purchase price was set at €17 million, the amount that the publishers had paid so far for the development of Control 2 and Condor. The total will be paid in three cash instalments over the next year.
The move allows Remedy to self-publish or find a new publishing partner with the reputation of the original game (and Alan Wake 2's success) as added weight. Meetings with future partners will be taking place over the next few months, with both projects (Condor and Control 2) predicted to reach their next development stages during that time.
As a result of the purchase, a number of behind-the-scenes changes have taken place for all three titles.
Taking place immediately, all publishing agreements are terminated, with the publishing, distribution, marketing and other licenses reverted to Remedy for the two Control games currently in development. Remedy will also receive greater control in marketing, distribution and direct business deals.
505 Games will continue to be the publisher for Control until the end of the year, completing the original agreement. However, with the turn of the year, the publishers will not collect future royalty or have access to the game's rights.
Speaking on the relationship with publisher 505 Games, Tero Virtala (Remedy's CEO) stated, "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.”
Source: Remedy Investors.
