In the wake of the covid-19 pandemic, the video game industry has experienced studio closures<\/a>, persistent layoffs<\/a>, corporate meddling<\/a>, and ill-fated games that were canceled soon after launch<\/a>. Exceptions like Remedy have been rare. Over the past decade, the studio has been implementing a plan to help it compete with bigger, better-funded developers and publishers, steadily inching its way from a work-for-hire studio to one in charge of its own destiny. As the industry has shifted toward live-service hits like Fortnite and blockbusters like Grand Theft Auto, Remedy has taken big swings with ambitious and delightfully strange narrative titles.<\/p>\n Now it\u2019s trying to expand even further with its first multiplayer \u2014 and self-published \u2014 game in FBC: Firebreak. The stakes are high: it\u2019s the perfect example of Remedy\u2019s new way of working and a proof of concept for its larger, more expansive future. It\u2019s also a strange experience, marrying the surreal tone of Control with co-op play that bucks the latest online gaming trends. But to hear it from the Finnish developer, it only gets to take swings like Firebreak because it nailed all of the boring stuff first.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are this building,\u201d explains creative director Mikael Kasurinen. \u201cThis is it; this is us. We aren\u2019t owned by anybody else, and I think that realization brings that culture of taking more responsibility. There is nothing above us that will save the day if things go wrong. It\u2019s all on us.\u201d<\/p>\n Max Payne. Image: Rockstar Games<\/p>\n This wasn\u2019t the case for much of the studio\u2019s existence. Founded in 1995, Remedy\u2019s first release was a combat racing game called Death Rally. A few years later, the studio garnered widespread acclaim with 2001\u2019s Max Payne, a hard-boiled noir with action ripped out of a John Woo movie. After a sequel, Remedy expanded in new directions with the survival horror game Alan Wake and sci-fi game \/ TV show hybrid Quantum Break.<\/p>\n Despite its modest success, though, the studio found itself stuck in a cycle of working from game to game. It didn\u2019t own any of its creations \u2014 instead, they were the property of publishers like Rockstar and Microsoft \u2014 and, with the exception of the rapid 18-month development of Max Payne 2, Remedy was only putting out new games every five years or so. That half-decade cycle meant that if any game failed, so did the company.<\/p>\n This put Remedy in a precarious position, and it\u2019s something Tero Virtala realized right away when he took over as CEO in 2016. \u201cAt that point Remedy had been around for 20 years, and succeeded in relation to many criteria,\u201d Virtala says. That included releasing several hit games and steadily growing in headcount. But Virtala says that \u201cit didn\u2019t feel like enough\u201d to have such a talented team and only release one game every four or five years. While it\u2019s typical for games to take years to build, only having one project at a time left the studio vulnerable in case any of them flopped.<\/p>\n Virtala helped spearhead a new path for Remedy\u2019s future built on two pillars: One was becoming a multi-project studio, so that it was less dependent on any single game. Second, Remedy also wanted ownership of its original creations and to eventually become its own publisher.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important to understand enough of the business, even though I don\u2019t love it.\u201d<\/p>\n A major part of making this work was ensuring that everyone in the studio bought in and understood the plan, not just management. It sounds like a controversial idea and runs counter to the way the industry typically works: whereas most studios operate with clear lines dividing creative and business, Virtala believed that empowering developers to understand the business side meant they\u2019d be better able to make the right decisions on the creative end.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are smart,\u201d Virtala says of his employees, \u201cand they are mature enough to understand that if you want to make creative, ambitious games, it\u2019s not possible unless you have the financial basis, unless you are aligned with the technology, unless you have the people and the production plans are in order. We try to provide the teams with as much information as possible. And then the teams are in the best place to try to figure out what is the best creative path within these constraints.\u201d<\/p>\n And it seems that the creative side has bought in. Sam Lake has been with Remedy for nearly its entire 30-year existence, starting out as a writer on Death Rally. (He\u2019s also the face of the original Max Payne \u2014 literally<\/a>.) He now serves as creative director and is the lead writer behind all of Remedy\u2019s major franchises. \u201cIt\u2019s important to understand enough of the business, even though I don\u2019t love it,\u201d Lake says. \u201cWhen you\u2019re creating a game concept, there are a lot of decisions being made, and the more you understand about what these decisions affect, the better you are prepared to choose wisely.\u201d<\/p>\n Control. Image: Remedy Entertainment<\/p>\n The real turning point came with the launch of Control in 2019<\/a>, the first game released under Virtala\u2019s leadership. While the idea for the story and world had been kicking around in Lake\u2019s head for some time, the actual development happened as Virtala was implementing broader studio changes. He pushed for more efficient processes and timelines, hoping to make games faster without sacrificing the quality level Remedy had become known for.<\/p>\n \u201cThose three years were transformative for Remedy,\u201d Kasurinen says. He notes that this new development style meant planning much more in advance on Control, and viewing limitations around budgets and timelines as creative challenges \u201cthat forced us to reinvent many things in a good way.\u201d When it came out, Control exemplified exactly what the studio wanted to be: it was developed in a comparatively brisk three years, was a brand-new property that the studio would (eventually<\/a>) own outright, and was in development alongside another project in collaboration with Korean publisher Smilegate. Creatively, it also allowed the team to attempt a new kind of open-ended action game and it opened up new directions for the future.<\/p>\n Control\u2019s success allowed this plan to continue. Since then, Remedy has steadily expanded. Control was followed by a long-awaited sequel to Alan Wake<\/a>, and the studio has grown to 380 people. It currently has four projects in development: a sequel to Control<\/a>, remakes of the Max Payne games<\/a>, an unannounced title, and its first multiplayer game, the recently launched Control spinoff FBC: Firebreak<\/a>. With the exception of Max Payne, which is being published by Rockstar, all of its in-development games are self-published.<\/p>\n Remedy now also holds the publishing rights for Alan Wake<\/a> (the sequel was originally published by Epic Games), and has created its own connected universe, which unites the worlds of Alan Wake and Control. In 2024 it partnered with Annapurna Pictures<\/a> to potentially expand this even further through film and TV adaptations. Branching out into new genres and mediums is a further attempt to grow Remedy\u2019s capabilities \u2014 and to better insulate itself from the volatile whims of the games industry.<\/p>\n Getting to this moment required some structural changes. Remedy now has multiple development teams, with staff shifting between them as needed, and it also has a unique setup with two creative directors in Lake and Kasurinen. Lake says that both of them want to be hands-on when they\u2019re leading a new game, and so having two people in the role allows the creative side to always be involved in larger studio decisions, even in the midst of an intense development process.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was deep into Alan Wake 2, I wasn\u2019t a part of attending weekly management meetings,\u201d Lake says. \u201cI just needed to focus on [the game]. But it\u2019s really important that we have the creative side represented on the company level. So this arrangement gives us flexibility. We can represent each other.\u201d<\/p>\n CrossfireX. Image: Smilegate Entertainment<\/p>\n Even still, the transition wasn\u2019t always smooth. As Remedy attempted to grow into a multi-project studio, not all of its expansion attempts worked out. First, the studio partnered with Smilegate on a new iteration of the popular military shooter Crossfire. The idea was that Smilegate would make the multiplayer portion of the game, while Remedy would craft a single-player story mode<\/a>, giving the studio a chance to make its first first-person shooter. But CrossfireX was poorly received upon release in 2022 \u2014 campaign mode included \u2014 and shut down a year later.<\/p>\n Remedy also attempted to get into the world of free-to-play games through a partnership with Tencent, but the title \u2014 known as Project Vanguard \u2014 eventually shifted to a premium release<\/a>, before finally being canceled before it was ever shown to the public<\/a>.<\/p>\n Virtala says that these setbacks were largely a result of pushing too far too fast. And in the case of Vanguard, the failure helped the studio realize that four games at a time was the sweet spot for what the company could manage. \u201cWe started to feel that we had a bit too many projects for our size of organization,\u201d he explains. \u201cWe saw that if we had a bit more focus, it would help our other projects to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n But those failures don\u2019t mean Remedy is done trying new things. In fact, the studio\u2019s first fully self-published game, FBC: Firebreak<\/a>, is also one of its most surprising releases. It\u2019s a multiplayer shooter, which might sound like an odd release from a studio known for single-player narratives. But as the studio looked to expand, multiplayer was one of the key areas the team wanted to explore.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to explore ways of building new types of experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n Firebreak is a relative baby step in that direction. It\u2019s connected to a popular game the studio owns, and it was built by a small internal team. While regular updates are planned \u2014 including \u201cmajor\u201d releases in the fall and winter<\/a> \u2014 Firebreak isn\u2019t a live-service game on par with Fortnite or Call of Duty, designed to keep players coming back with ongoing events and daily activities. It\u2019s a paid game meant explicitly to \u201crespect the player\u2019s time.\u201d<\/a> It\u2019s also a way for the studio to expand its capabilities without stretching the team too far.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to explore ways of building new types of experiences,\u201d says Mike Kayatta, game director on Firebreak. \u201cI like to think that we know what we\u2019re doing when it comes to these large, single-player story-driven games. This is how the studio built its reputation and what it\u2019s good at. When you\u2019re faced with saying, \u2018Hey, we need to diversify the types of experiences we\u2019re making,\u2019 do you really just want to just make five more of these linear, story-driven games?\u201d<\/p>\n So far, Firebreak\u2019s release hasn\u2019t gone exactly to plan. It was greeted with mixed reviews from critics and players<\/a>, many of whom complained that, while it maintains some of the weird and unsettling tone as Control, it\u2019s held back by repetitive gameplay and a lack of Remedy-style narrative flourishes. But the studio seems intent on fixing things, recently posting an extensive list of patch notes<\/a> and other upcoming changes that cover everything from the onboarding experience to the UI. \u201cSeveral things have gone well,\u201d the studio wrote<\/a>. \u201cClearly, not everything has.\u201d<\/p>\n FBC: Firebreak. Image: Remedy Entertainment<\/p>\n The success of a game like Firebreak is still critical for Remedy even under its multi-project structure. It\u2019s a complex plan that has kept Virtala very busy over the last 10 years. In fact, when I spoke to him in an empty conference room at Remedy\u2019s office, he was delayed because he had to prepare for the studio\u2019s most recent financial report the next day. \u201cEvery single game is highly important for us,\u201d Virtala says. \u201cThere is no question that we are not fully insulated. But we are less dependent on any single game than we used to be.\u201d<\/p>\n This feeling is only strengthened by the current realities of the gaming industry. It\u2019s a space where even a well-funded EA studio can\u2019t get a Black Panther game made<\/a>, a Sony-backed multiplayer shooter in development for eight years, Concord, is quickly shuttered<\/a>, and the likes of Netflix<\/a> and Amazon<\/a> are struggling to make headway despite huge investments. Remedy is currently in a good place, with a growing back catalog and multiple games in development, and while it has grown, it\u2019s still a fraction of the size of most other studios making big-budget games, which often have headcounts in the thousands. <\/p>\n While the last decade has been a big shift at Remedy, Lake describes his time at the studio as being filled with constant change, as the company steadily grew in terms of both staff and the scale of its projects. Even still, he believes that the current incarnation of the studio might be ideal for this multi-project structure, and says that he \u201cwould be surprised\u201d if Remedy continued to grow significantly over the next few years. While many large studios are seemingly focused on perpetual growth, the team at Remedy is happy to be sustainable.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were a couple of false starts trying to get there, but now it feels very much like we\u2019re settled,\u201d says Lake. \u201cThis is what Remedy is now.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0000003260.jpg\"\/)
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