Last Wednesday, Remedy published five reports which reflected on the state of the company throughout 2023. In our previous blog post, we wrote about four of them; Financial Statements Release January-December 2024, Financial Statement and Board of Directors' Report 2023, Remuneration Report 2024, and Corporate Governance Statement 2023. Today, we're going to be looking at that fifth report, which features interviews with Tero Virtala (Remedy's CEO) and Ilkka Villi (Physical Actor for Alan Wake)
So, what is it? Every year, Remedy releases its Annual Report, a document that looks at the company as a whole, including its strategy, environment, games, people, sustainability, governance, and financials.
These reports tend to be more reader-friendly than their other publications, with a lot of effort being put into making the information presentable and easy to read. Financial reports are great sources of discovering what's going on with the company, but admittedly, if you don't like blocks of text, you're going to struggle. As a result, the Annual Reports tend to kindle more excitement in the Remedy community.
We're going to be looking at some of the key pieces from the report that weren't included in the others, but if you want to read the full document yourself, make sure to check out the Investors page HERE. The report is currently located at the bottom of the page, marked as "Remedy's Annual Report 2023".
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Developers. Remedy Entertainment's headquarters are based in Espoo, Finland, with a newer second office located in Stockholm, Sweden. The number of developers and contractors employed by the studios at the end of 2023 was 352 (up from 334 in 2022), with workers from 33 different countries. The studio is still fairly male-dominated, with 76% Men, 23% Women, and 1% listed as "Other", with the average age currently set at 35.9. In 2023, 53 developers joined the studio, with an employee turnover of 8.1%. Remedy Sweden has 30 developers, most of whom work on-site. By the end of 2024, they aim to have 40 developers at their second base.
Game Projects. Alan Wake 2 was released on October 27th and marked one million units sold by the end of the year. Control 2, "Condor", and the Max Payne 1&2 Remake are moving along, with the reporting stating that the teams are making good progress. "Vangaurd" was restarted, in agreement with publisher Tencent, and adopted the new project codename "Kestral". It has also been confirmed that "Kestral" will be part of the Remedy Connected Universe.
Control and Alan Wake. In their chapter, "Why Invest In Remedy", the studio lists "two established franchises, Control and Alan Wake, which are linked through the Remedy Connected Universe. Growing and expanding these franchises will be a key part of our future."
Partner IP. While Remedy tends to focus on their own IP, they're not opposed to working on other games. In its Business Model, Remedy includes "Partner IP", which mirrors the path taken for Smilegate's CrossfireX and Rockstar's Max Payne 1&2 Remake. In their model, they state that the partner funds the development of the game, with Remedy developing it to agreed specifications. In return, Remedy receives development fees (typically with a margin) at agreed milestones. "Partner IP projects carry a lower financial risk for Remedy, but participation in the game success is also limited."
Stage Gate. Remedy's Stage Gate Process splits a project into six stages: Mandate (featuring the project management only for approximately 1-2 months), Concept (<20 developers for 3-6 months), Proof-Of-Concept (<50 developers for 4-12 months), Production Readiness (<75 developers for 3-6 months), Full Production (75-200 developers for 15-26 months), and finally Live Stage (10-20 developers working on updates with 20-30 developers working on DLCs for 1-2 years, across 1-3 DLC packs).
Development Budgets. Control 2's initial development budget totals EUR 50 million, and is currently in the Proof-Of-Concept stage. Condor's initial budget is set at EUR 25 million, it has reached the Production Readiness stage.
Influencer Collaborations. In its marketing section, the studio addressed how they were "harnessing the powers of influencers" for Alan Wake 2, with examples including an escape room with JackSepticEye and 8-BitRyan, along with the Mystery FBI Boxes, and other exclusive projects. Unexpectedly, while community engagement activities were a key topic in the marketing section of the previous year's report, there's a noticeable absence in the current report, with the focus switching to influencer collaborations and the importance of maintaining those relations. Though it's no surprise, earlier in the report, the studio spotlighted the importance of influencers in marketing under "Trends in Gaming", stating that "their impact is becoming greater than that of the traditional gaming media".
Finnish Culture. With Alan Wake 2, Remedy celebrated its Finnish heritage in their collaborations, teaming up with Makia for a new clothing collection, Fried Music for chapter songs, Poets of the Fall to bring life to Old Gods of Asgard, and Airam for the Oh Deer Diner Thermos.
Tidbits. Remedy's new motion capture studio features 94 cameras. The Northlight team consists of 60 developers,
Company Culture. Remedy's goal to improve company culture consists of three pillars; Camaraderie, Pioneering Spirit, and Smart Creativity. Alongside these pillars, Remedy sends out regular surveys to learn how they can improve.
Sustainability. Their Sustainability lists three core goals; 1) People at the heart of everything we do, 2) Memorable experiences for fans across the globe, and 3) Responsible members of society. In 2023, the studio formed a Remedy DEI group to "drive diversity, equity, and inclusion practices across the company". In the same year, they also began measuring their carbon footprint.
