April turned out to be a busy month for both the Swedish and Finnish studios. Last Thursday, Remedy announced changes to its core management team, with a new departure and a new promotion.
The Departure of Remedy's COO
The company's COO, Christopher Schmitz, revealed that he would be stepping down from the role on May 31st 2024.
Those who have been following The Sudden Stop for a while or keeping an eye on Remedy's investor's page may remember other c-suite changes at the end of last year. In their press release, the studio addresses that topic, stating that the company "has made management reorganizations in 2023 and in 2024, including the earlier changes made to the Chief Product Officer (CPO) role and appointment of a new Chief Technology Officer (CTO). These developments have been made to better manage and support Remedy’s game portfolio and game development personnel. With these organizational changes, the previous COO responsibilities are distributed to other management team members, and Remedy will not look for a replacement."
CEO, Tero Virtala praised Christopher's contributions to the studio, "“Christopher Schmitz has had various responsibilities during the past five years, with which he has helped in building the foundations of our multi-project model, and developing game project leadership, as well as selected support functions. I want to warmly thank him and wish him all the best in his next endeavors.”
Christopher had been Remedy's Chief Operating Officer, serving in the executive management team, since April 2019, when he moved to Helsinki from his previous role at EA in Göteborg. His role consisted of the day-to-day operations of the company, including assembling, mentoring, and leading development teams, and ensuring they had the direction and resources they needed.
Following the news going public, Christopher expanded on his departure via his LinkedIn page, stating, "It was a blast. Finland will forever be my second home. And Remedy will forever stay close to my heart. It’s really difficult to leave so many talented developers and good human beings behind. Now on to new super exciting ventures. Stay tuned."
Appointment of Remedy's Second Creative Director
The document goes on to announce a further change to the Core Management Team, with Mikael Kasurinen's promotion to Creative Director alongside Sam Lake (listed as Sami Järvi in the statement).
The statement reads that "Mikael Kasurinen has been appointed as Creative Director and will join Remedy’s Core Management Team. He will continue to report directly to CEO Tero Virtala. Kasurinen will work alongside Sami Järvi, who has acted as a company Creative Director and Creative Director of Alan Wake 2. Kasurinen worked for Remedy from 2001 to 2010 and joined Remedy again in 2014. He acted as the Game Director of Control since 2016 and currently he is the Game Director of Control 2."
The press release goes on to add that "As Creative Directors of Remedy, Järvi and Kasurinen continue their current responsibilities in Alan Wake and Control franchises and will share the companywide Creative Director responsibilities going forward. They support game projects’ creative leadership so that we can make outstanding games aligned with Remedy’s strategy and operational priorities."
In his closing remarks, Tero Virtala welcomes him to Core Management Team, “He is a highly respected, experienced and accomplished creative leader. Kasurinen and Järvi have worked together in a number of games, and they have complementary world class skills. With this arrangement, we can ensure the needed focus on growing Alan Wake and Control into larger franchises, and the right type of creative guidance and support that all our game teams can benefit from”.
