Remedy partner with Annapurna to co-finance Control 2 and explore Control and Alan Wake TV and film adaptations

The poster has a big pile of money behind it

Remedy were “thrilled as Finnish people can be” to announce yesterday that they’ve secured funding for a Control sequel in a co-financing deal with Annapurna, who are also helping the Alan Wake studio bring their connected universe to “film, TV, and beyond”.

While I’m pretty jazzed to see what the coffee-addled minds that brought us Threshold Kids can conjure up under that tantalising ‘beyond’ label, I’ll skip the speculation from now. Here’s the skinny from Remedy’s communications director Thomas Puha:

What does that mean for you, our dear fans? Above all it means Remedy is able to make Control 2 exactly the game we want it to be, while we now also have an incredible partner to extend our IPs to other mediums. We are also going to be publishing Control 2 ourselves. When I look at all the games we have in the pipeline, the future of Remedy is incredibly exciting. You can trust us to keep bringing you incredible video game experiences.

And here’s what Sammy-Sammy Lake-Lake had to say about it. I can call him that because we’re mates*:

“I’m absolutely thrilled (yes!) by this opportunity to expand the story of Alan Wake and our whole Remedy Connected Universe to mediums beyond games, and to build all of this in close collaboration, games, film, TV, and other mediums as well, as one unified vision. I trust Annapurna are the perfect partner for us to make this dream come true.”

*Not actual mates

This does all mean that AMC’s Alan Wake show won’t be happening, however. "We have moved on from AMC amicably as their rights to Alan Wake expired,” Puha told Games Radar.

Annapurna are, of course, them behind games like beloved space puzzler Outer Wilds, secret best game ever made Neon White, and we-saw-the-internet-coming-em-up Stray, all published under their Annapurna Interactive label. On the other side of the coin, Annapurna have a mixed reputation for looking after partner developers. A couple years back, People Make Games put out a report about “Three Indie Superstars Accused of Emotional Abuse”, all of whom had published games under Annapurna Interactive, who were allegedly unsupportive during the highlighted cases.

Remedy’s most recent game was Alan Wake 2, which had yet to turn a profit as of this February. “A stylistic tour de force and one of the most unique and confident horror games in recent years,” decreed Katharine (RPS in peace) in her review. “It might not hit every beat perfectly, but Remedy's daft and over the top sense of humour help bring much-needed levity to its genuine thrills and jump scares.”