Last week, Remedy Entertainment published five reports detailing its internal developments from 2023.
In this post, we'll examine four documents released on March 20th: Financial Statements Release January-December 2024 (red), Financial Statement and Board of Directors' Report 2023 (green), Remuneration Report 2024 (blue), and Corporate Governance Statement 2023 (purple).
If you're interested in the numbers, I recommend checking out the reports directly to ensure that you're getting the most accurate data. In our roundups, we look primarily at the company's changes, the projects it's working on, and the challenges and achievements it had in the reported time.
As always, the original reports was posted on the Remedy Investors website and emailed to subscribers on March 20th. On the same day, Tero Virtala (CEO), Terhi Kauppi (CFO), and Veli-Pekka Puolakanaho (Head of Corporate Development and IR) took part in a livestream to address the financial results from 2023 and answered questions from shareholders. You can watch the full broadcast, HERE.
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As always, the original reports was posted on the Remedy Investors website and emailed to subscribers on March 20th. On the same day, Tero Virtala (CEO), Terhi Kauppi (CFO), and Veli-Pekka Puolakanaho (Head of Corporate Development and IR) took part in a livestream to address the financial results from 2023 and answered questions from shareholders. You can watch the full broadcast, HERE.
Highlights (Q4 2023)
Management Changes. Markus Mäki became the Chief Product Officer, with Mika Vehkala appointed Chief Technology Officer.
Internal Developments
Alan Wake 2. The development of the game required more personnel than predicted throughout 2023, which delayed other projects moving to the next stage of their development. With Alan Wake 2 now available to players, developers have since been relocated to other projects while still keeping a core team for the game's upcoming DLC. Upon launch, Alan Wake 2 received an 89 Metacritic Score and won multiple awards at The Game Awards.
Condor. In Q3 2023, Condor (Codename) progressed from the proof-of-concept stage to production readiness. Virtala described in his Q3 2023 report that the team has "acquired valuable insights" in creating service-based games and is now more knowledgeable about creating a game that "players can engage with for years." Currently, the team is focused on establishing strong combat and game mechanics.
Control 2. Previously referred to internally as "Heron". The game continues to be in the proof-of-concept stage, although good progress has been made in the designs and game build. The project is expected to remain at this stage for several months, focusing on identifying key elements before proceeding to the next stage of development. In Q4 2024, the team worked on world-building and combat.
Kestral. In mid-November 2023, Remedy revealed a reboot for the project. In agreement with Tencent, the game would be a premium title with a cooperative multiplayer element and return to the concept stage. With the revisions, the project received the new codename, Kestral. In their Board of Directors' Report, the group revealed that "the project was not fully aligned with our core capabilities and our other game projects", which led to the change; this was despite "promising progress" made in the first half of 2023.
State of the Studio
Alan Wake 2 Dev Team. While work continued on Alan Wake 2 in the form of updates and expansion packs, most developers were relocated to other projects as those games moved into the next stages of development. The Developmental fees in Q3 were lower due to the base game's development drawing to an end.
Recap / 2021-2025 Studio Goals
While the previous few years have been dedicated to strengthening its position as a multi-project developer, the Board has established the key stepping stones that would define success internally going ahead. These goals include:
Alan Wake 2. The team successfully launched Alan Wake 2, which they describe will lay the foundation for the future. The game marks the first under 1) the Remedy Connected Universe and 2) Remedy as a multi-project game studio. Since October, the game has already recouped a "significant part" of the investments made by Epic Games Publishing
Management Changes. Markus Mäki became the Chief Product Officer, with Mika Vehkala appointed Chief Technology Officer.
Vanguard/Kestral. "Vanguard" was revised and brought back to the concept stage as "Kestral", in agreement with publisher Tencent. As a result, Remedy "recognized an impairment charge of EUR 7.2 million" for Q4 and 2023, which was part of the payment received by Remedy on the development of the title. Writing on the market's needs, Virtala stated "The requirements for a successful new free-to-play game have clearly increased during the past years. Despite the promising progress during the first half of the year, we decided with Tencent that the potential was not there."
Highlights (2023)
Revenue and Profitability. Increased investments in Remedy's game projects naturally impacted revenue and profitability. Out of the five currently underway, four are being co-financed (presumably "Kestral," Control 2, "Condor," and ongoing work with Alan Wake 2, although the names aren't given). The fifth project is the Max Payne 1&2 Remake.
Alan Wake 2. The team successfully launched Alan Wake 2 in collaboration with Epic Games in October 2023. (Earlier this year, the developers revealed one million units were sold by the end of 2023, and 1.3 million units by February 2024. This was mentioned in the report despite taking place after the reporting period. Remedy's CEO later states that the game's success was "despite a competitive launch window").
Revenue and Profitability. Increased investments in Remedy's game projects naturally impacted revenue and profitability. Out of the five currently underway, four are being co-financed (presumably "Kestral," Control 2, "Condor," and ongoing work with Alan Wake 2, although the names aren't given). The fifth project is the Max Payne 1&2 Remake.
Production Cheat Sheet:
Condor. Condor is a cooperative, player-verses-environment spin-off game set in the world of Control. Remedy had been partnered with 505Games for this adventure throughout 2023. In February, it was announced that Remedy had purchased the full Control rights from the publisher.
Kestral. Originally codenamed Vanguard, the project received significant changes between the report originally being posted and now with it returning to the concept stage. While still published by Tencent, Remedy described the new project in the press release as being "a premium title, with a cooperative multiplayer element"
Condor. Condor is a cooperative, player-verses-environment spin-off game set in the world of Control. Remedy had been partnered with 505Games for this adventure throughout 2023. In February, it was announced that Remedy had purchased the full Control rights from the publisher.
Kestral. Originally codenamed Vanguard, the project received significant changes between the report originally being posted and now with it returning to the concept stage. While still published by Tencent, Remedy described the new project in the press release as being "a premium title, with a cooperative multiplayer element"
Internal Developments
Max Payne 1&2 Remake. In Q3 2023, the project progressed into the production readiness stage, having "gained clarity on the style and scope of the game". The studio stated that the team behind the Max Payne 1&2 Remake made "considerable progress throughout the year" and that it has the indications to be "a major new game with great potential, enabled by a similar development budget as Alan Wake 2."
Alan Wake 2. The development of the game required more personnel than predicted throughout 2023, which delayed other projects moving to the next stage of their development. With Alan Wake 2 now available to players, developers have since been relocated to other projects while still keeping a core team for the game's upcoming DLC. Upon launch, Alan Wake 2 received an 89 Metacritic Score and won multiple awards at The Game Awards.
Condor. In Q3 2023, Condor (Codename) progressed from the proof-of-concept stage to production readiness. Virtala described in his Q3 2023 report that the team has "acquired valuable insights" in creating service-based games and is now more knowledgeable about creating a game that "players can engage with for years." Currently, the team is focused on establishing strong combat and game mechanics.
Control 2. Previously referred to internally as "Heron". The game continues to be in the proof-of-concept stage, although good progress has been made in the designs and game build. The project is expected to remain at this stage for several months, focusing on identifying key elements before proceeding to the next stage of development. In Q4 2024, the team worked on world-building and combat.
Kestral. In mid-November 2023, Remedy revealed a reboot for the project. In agreement with Tencent, the game would be a premium title with a cooperative multiplayer element and return to the concept stage. With the revisions, the project received the new codename, Kestral. In their Board of Directors' Report, the group revealed that "the project was not fully aligned with our core capabilities and our other game projects", which led to the change; this was despite "promising progress" made in the first half of 2023.
State of the Studio
Development Fees. Development fees totalled EUR 28.7 million for 2023, with Remedy investing in long-term projects and success. The average salary of a Remedy employee is EUR 63,852. Board members are paid EUR 3,000 per month, with The Chairman of the Board of Directors (Markus Mäki) paid EUR 4,500.
Royalties. Remedy continued to receive royalties from Alan Wake Remastered. In the third quarter of 2023, the project had officially recouped its developmental and marketing costs.
Alan Wake 2 Dev Team. While work continued on Alan Wake 2 in the form of updates and expansion packs, most developers were relocated to other projects as those games moved into the next stages of development. The Developmental fees in Q3 were lower due to the base game's development drawing to an end.
Development Investments. Virtala stated that "Alan Wake 2 has already recouped a significant part of the investments made by Epic Games Publishing, and we expect the game to be a meaningful revenue and profitability driver for the year."
Control IP. Outside of the reporting period, in February 2024, Remedy acquired full rights to the Control franchise from 505Games. In his letter, Virtala states, "This is a significant positive step for us. While 505 Games was the right partner in 2017, the franchise and our ambitions have grown since. We see that the way to grow the Control franchise is with a different business model and a partner. "
Alan Wake & Control. In his letter in the 2023 Financial Report, Tero Virtala (CEO at Remedy) stated, "With Alan Wake and Control we now have two established franchises, and our ambition is to grow them into franchises that have high brand recognition, steadily growing user base, more regular cadence of sequels and an ability to generate revenues and profits at a high level." (This has kindled a lot of attention from the media, with several places reporting that Alan Wake 3 has been confirmed. At present, the studio has not explicitly confirmed it, only that they hope to grow the franchise.)
Alan Wake & Control. In his letter in the 2023 Financial Report, Tero Virtala (CEO at Remedy) stated, "With Alan Wake and Control we now have two established franchises, and our ambition is to grow them into franchises that have high brand recognition, steadily growing user base, more regular cadence of sequels and an ability to generate revenues and profits at a high level." (This has kindled a lot of attention from the media, with several places reporting that Alan Wake 3 has been confirmed. At present, the studio has not explicitly confirmed it, only that they hope to grow the franchise.)
Financial Statements. The following dates have been confirmed for future financial disclosures: April 29th (Q1 2024 Business Review), August 9th (H1 2024 Financial Report), and November 1 (Q3 2024 Business Review)
Operating Expenses. While we don't tend to report on numbers, there are some interesting notes from the operating expenses. Marketing costs were almost a third of the total cost of travel expenses for 2023 (EUR 254,000 compared to EUR 832,000). Office space costs rose from EUR 291,000 to EUR 665,000, which may have been the result of the Stockholm team moving into their newly furnished studio.
What Makes Remedy, Remedy
Nationalities. At the end of 2023, Remedy consisted of 352 developers and contractors (up from 334). Of these, 52% were international developers with 32 different nationalities, and the remaining percentage were Finnish developers.
Core Management Team. The Remedy Core Management Team consists of Tero Virtala (CEO), Terhi Kauppi (CFO), Markus Mäki (Chief Product Officer), Sami Järvi (Creative Director), Johannes Paloheimo (Chief Commercial Officer), Christopher Schmitz (Chief Operating Officer) and Mika Vehkala (Chief Technology Officer).
The Board. The Board of Directors include Markus Mäki (Chair) who has held the role since 1995, Jussi Laakkonen, Henri Österlund, Kaisa Salakka and Sonja Ängeslevä. They will remain in place until the next Annual General Meeting. All members attended 100% of all meetings in 2023.
Recap / 2021-2025 Studio Goals
While the previous few years have been dedicated to strengthening its position as a multi-project developer, the Board has established the key stepping stones that would define success internally going ahead. These goals include:
- To create several successful games, with the goal of at least one major hit.
- To own at least three expanding game brands with "long-term hit potential".
- Strengthening the studio's position to select the ideal distribution for each project (e.g. self-financing, self-publishing, and working with partners).
- Strengthening Remedy's status and value within Europe.
- Maintaining a profitable and growing studio with "well-managed risks".
