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[miller.skippins]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-05-25-not-the-finnish-remedys-new-age

Quantum Break was Remedy's latest, an ambitious game that spliced live action TV-style episodes between playable chapters in the game. Now, it's easy to look back and scoff at the studio's multimedia ambition, but back when Microsoft was pitching Xbox One as a TV Room centerpiece it sounded like a great idea.

"In the early concept of Alan Wake 2 that we took to Microsoft ... there was the idea of it being episodic and in between having live action episodes," Sam Lake told me. "That part they loved. They were like, 'This is a keeper but... we are looking for a new IP.' They wanted to own that. Alan Wake is ours so that was off the table, so it needed to be something else.

"If you look at Microsoft at that point," he added, "with them working on Xbox One - and it was still some way off - they strongly saw it as an entertainment device. If you remember how it came out there was a lot of talk about TV and live action."

In the midst of Microsoft's TV enthusiasm, Quantum Break was born. Then Microsoft was forced to change its mind after the TV idea went down like a lead balloon. So Microsoft closed Xbox Entertainment Studios in LA and backed out. But Remedy's course was already set. Fortunately Remedy had been outsourcing its filming elsewhere, so somehow Quantum Break "survived all of those shifts at Microsoft". But the struggle didn't end there.

Cutting loose from that, from being swept along with a platform holder's current desire, could seem like a positive, freeing thing - not to mention granting the ability to reach a whole PlayStation audience.

"We worked with Microsoft Studios for 10 years, for two big games. It was a logical, good partnership. For them, the platform is the important thing, but we are an indie game maker and at the end of the day, coming out of that, we just want our games to be experienced by as many people as possible," he said, "and going multi-platform is the logical step for us."

Remedy is currently 140 people and working on two games: CrossFire 2 and P7. The majority of the studio is working on CrossFire 2, in full production, and P7 is in pre-production.

CrossFire 2 is the sequel to the absolutely enormous free-to-play game CrossFire, made by Korean company SmileGate. Remedy isn't making the whole sequel but rather the story mode - the campaign - for it.

"We are doing our traditional Remedy treatment," said Lake. "They are looking for our storytelling capability, our character-building capability and our world-building capability. [We're] taking their thing and making a story mode, or story campaign, out of that, for their big Crossfire 2."

No dates have been announced nor are they Remedy's to announce.

Project 7 (P7) is Remedy's more traditional Next Big Thing. It has a publisher, 505 Games, and will be a third-person action game with some intriguing-sounding 'long-lasting mechanics'.

"P7 is not an Alan Wake 2 - it's worth saying out aloud," said Lake. But that does not mean Alan Wake 2, as an idea, is dead.

"I would love to do that!" said Lake. "We are not making Alan Wake 2 at the moment. We own Alan Wake, I feel there is value in Alan Wake, I would love to do more Alan Wake, but these things, they are more than just creative ideas: there is a business side to it. There are many things that need to click into place to make it possible."

Wake me up if old.

 

[Magwik]

"P7 is not an Alan Wake 2 - it's worth saying out aloud," said Lake. But that does not mean Alan Wake 2, as an idea, is dead.

"I would love to do that!" said Lake. "We are not making Alan Wake 2 at the moment. We own Alan Wake, I feel there is value in Alan Wake, I would love to do more Alan Wake, but these things, they are more than just creative ideas: there is a business side to it. There are many things that need to click into place to make it possible."

Alan Wake is dead isn't it

 

[potatohead]

If they make anything like max payne 1 and 2 again I'm all over that shit

 

[Vintage]

I still have Alan Wake in my inventory, should probably play it. Does it hold up? How long it is?

 

[T.O.P]

I still have Alan Wake in my inventory, should probably play it. Does it hold up? How long it is?

10-11 hours for the main campaign

It holds up greatly

 

[BocoDragon]

Echoes of Titanfall signing the Xbox exclusivity clause.

Xbox One exclusivity seems to have been the wrong horse to bet on.....

 

[Rymuth]

Alan Wake is dead isn't it

As long as the IP is owned by Remedy, then yes. He flat out said MS will fund something only if they own it, something thats been echoed by Spencer.

Unless Remedy makes a colossal fortune on their next game and self-funds a sequel, it aint happening.

 

[Fat4all]

Alan Wake is dead isn't it

it's fairly dead

 

[Pankratous]

As long as the IP is owned by Remedy, then yes. He flat out said MS will fund something only if they own it, something thats been echoed by Spencer.

Unless Remedy makes a colossal fortune on their next game and self-funds a sequel, it aint happening.

Easy. Just get Sony to fund it.

 

[JaseC]

"We worked with Microsoft Studios for 10 years, for two big games. It was a logical, good partnership. For them, the platform is the important thing, but we are an indie game maker and at the end of the day, coming out of that, we just want our games to be experienced by as many people as possible," he said, "and going multi-platform is the logical step for us."

This is always nice to hear, especially after Phil Spencer perhaps inadvertently made it abundantly clear that Microsoft would only sign off on Alan Wake 2 if Remedy would be willing to hand over the IP.

 

[Flipyap]

I still have Alan Wake in my inventory, should probably play it. Does it hold up? How long it is?

Facial animations in cutscenes don't hold up AT ALL (they were always bad, now it's almost hard to believe that it shipped like that), but the game itself is still great.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Alan Wake is dead isn't it

Of course it is - no publisher is going to hand over like $40 million for an IP they don't own and as a sequel to a game that was a flop.

 

[mclem]

I still have Alan Wake in my inventory, should probably play it. Does it hold up? How long it is?

I'd say it holds up - and as mentioned above, a little over 10 hours for a full playthrough - but I'd also say it pays to space it out; the game has natural splits, and I'd strongly recommend playing no further than one of those splits in a given session.

 

[Bits N Pieces]

Easy. Just get Sony to fund it.

lol

 

[Caayn]

Easy. Just get Sony to fund it.

And then Sony owns the IP.

Xbox One exclusivity seems to have been the wrong horse to bet on.....

Not that surprising with the divide between install bases. But hindsight, etc. etc.

 

[miller.skippins]

Echoes of Titanfall signing the Xbox exclusivity clause.

Xbox One exclusivity seems to have been the wrong horse to bet on.....

i hope xbox fans don't crucify me for saying this but it seems to be...

so far this gen, very few Xbox one exclusive has been gaining traction...(excluding the always reliable Forza, also KI seems pretty good). Even Halo and Gears has been losing momentum. Ori is certainly a 'sleeper' hit but it's not something that will cause brain to melt when a sequel is announced on the E3 stage. Despite the quality of sunset overdrive & Quantum Break, they seems to be duds from a sales standpoint. Recore seems to be a mistake. What else am i missing?

 

[miller.skippins]

Of course it is - no publisher is going to hand over like $40 million for an IP they don't own and as a sequel to a game that was a flop.

Go ask Hideo Kojima the same question.

 

[Drillary Clinton]

No more Alan Wake (( what a shame. It was a great game.

 

[AudioEppa]

Easy. Just get Sony to fund it.

I was going to ask a question in here if they see Remedy bringing AW to PS4. Doing it as a test of interest from Sony's fan base and a potential AW2 (exclusively?)

 

[Nightengale]

Go ask Hideo Kojima the same question.

Sony owns Death Stranding

 

[MetalliCabombination]

Ill never forgive ms for turning down aw2

 

[miller.skippins]

I was going to ask a question in here if they see Remedy bringing AW to PS4. Doing it as a test of interest from Sony's fan base and a potential AW2 (exclusively?)

i don't know...The playstation fanbase definitely seems to be more incline to support Single player games than Xbox fanbase (based on non-empirical evidence).....so actually, it does seems to worth a try.

 

[Drencrom]

Go ask Hideo Kojima the same question.

https://trademarks.justia.com/871/07/death-87107685.html

 

[jroc74]

Echoes of Titanfall signing the Xbox exclusivity clause.

Xbox One exclusivity seems to have been the wrong horse to bet on.....

And Rise of the Tomb Raider selling well on PS4.

Definitely the wrong horse.

 

[miller.skippins]

https://trademarks.justia.com/871/07/death-87107685.html

ops...i stand corrected.

 

[OléGunner]

P7 sounds extremely far away. I know Remedy games take an age to make too.
Hopefully their SP focus in games will jive well with the PS audience if it meets the requisite quality.

I'm very interested in trying a Remedy game for the first time since like Max Payne 1.

i hope xbox fans don't crucify me for saying this but it seems to be...

so far this gen, very few Xbox one exclusive has been gaining traction...(excluding the always reliable Forza, also KI seems pretty good). Even Halo and Gears has been losing momentum. Ori is certainly a 'sleeper' hit but it's not something that will cause brain to melt when a sequel is announced on the E3 stage. Despite the quality of sunset overdrive & Quantum Break, they seems to be duds from a sales standpoint. Recore seems to be a mistake. What else am i missing?

OG Titanfall also did great for Xbox.

 

[Sinfamy]

Microsoft's handling of 3rd party... Hell even first party studios has been shameful this generation.

 

[Strootman]

Alan Wake is dead isn't it

Pretty much.

Shame.

 

[LiquidSolid]

This is always nice to hear, especially after Phil Spencer perhaps inadvertently made it abundantly clear that Microsoft would only sign off on Alan Wake 2 if Remedy would be willing to hand over the IP.

Yep and we can assume that's the exact same reason why Ryse 2 and Sunset Overdrive 2 will never happen.

 

[T.O.P]

Yep and we can assume that's the exact same reason why Ryse 2 and Sunset Overdrive 2 will never happen.

Didn't Insomniac go with MS for SO since they would've let 'em keep the IP?

 

[Maximilian Kolbe]

Echoes of Titanfall signing the Xbox exclusivity clause.

Xbox One exclusivity seems to have been the wrong horse to bet on.....

Titanfall is different case, without MS it may won't even exist.

 

[Kopite]

Btw does Sony own Bloodborne?

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Echoes of Titanfall signing the Xbox exclusivity clause.

Xbox One exclusivity seems to have been the wrong horse to bet on.....

Nah, this is more akin to The Order 1886. It had its focus in the wrong place and gamers reacted poorly to it as a result.

Go ask Hideo Kojima the same question.

Except Sony owns Death Stranding (I thought the same as you at first and was corrected a few months ago), and all of Kojima's games (on home consoles) have been big successes. It's not a remotely comparable situation.

 

[miller.skippins]

Btw does Sony own Bloodborne?

Bloodborne exist because Shuhei Yoshida regretted that he mistreated Demon's Souls western launch and specifically asked Miyazaki to develop a game for Playstation.

 

[SlipperyFishes]

Btw does Sony own Bloodborne?

Ifnits an exclusive game they've published they own the IP - even if the developer is third party.

It's just how they roll

 

[justsomeguy]

Didn't Insomniac go with MS for SO since they would've let 'em keep the IP?

Yup.

 

[Polygonal_Sprite]

Not surprising MS dropped them after reading that.

 

[SlipperyFishes]

This is always nice to hear, especially after Phil Spencer perhaps inadvertently made it abundantly clear that Microsoft would only sign off on Alan Wake 2 if Remedy would be willing to hand over the IP.

That's not what he said at all in that thread.

I read it as there are many moving parts, the game would have to be exclusive for us to find it and they'd be stuck for another few years on a single ecosystem.

Remedy wants a mass market audience. Hence they're going with P7.

 

[Doffen]

Echoes of Titanfall signing the Xbox exclusivity clause.

Xbox One exclusivity seems to have been the wrong horse to bet on.....

http://finalhoursoftitanfall.com

EA: Titanfall beat our sales expectations

Titanfall did a little more than seven million units.

Titanfall 2 flops in first week despite multiformat release

EA: Titanfall 2 below expectations

 

[FUNKNOWN iXi]

I hope we see another an Alan Wake some day.

This would have been Halo's fate had Bungie owned the IP lol. Imagine that? No more Halo games after Halo 3, or at the latest Halo Reach? That would be a dark timeline for fans of Halo multiplayer and its extended fiction.

 

[LiquidSolid]

Didn't Insomniac go with MS for SO since they would've let 'em keep the IP?

Yes, but that was before the policy change. Back then Microsoft were open to letting developers keep their IPs, though they would of course lock down the publishing rights and option for a sequel (see: Ryse and Sunset Overdrive). That seemed to change once Phil Spencer took over, Microsoft now wants to own the IPs of all their first party games.

Btw does Sony own Bloodborne?

Sony owns every first party game they've published and have since Crash and Spyro (which were the entire reason why they came up with that policy). So yes, they own Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, Death Stranding and so on.

 

[miller.skippins]

http://finalhoursoftitanfall.com

EA: Titanfall beat our sales expectations

Titanfall did a little more than seven million units.

Titanfall 2 flops in first week despite multiformat release

EA: Titanfall 2 below expectations

Titanfall 2 flop because of EA's mismanagement...it's release in the middle of other even bigger FPS franchise during the peak period....nothing to do with multiplatform.

even if TF2 is still Xbox exclusive, it would have flopped if it's release on the same date.

 

[Turbo Killer]

i hope xbox fans don't crucify me for saying this but it seems to be...

so far this gen, very few Xbox one exclusive has been gaining traction...(excluding the always reliable Forza, also KI seems pretty good). Even Halo and Gears has been losing momentum. Ori is certainly a 'sleeper' hit but it's not something that will cause brain to melt when a sequel is announced on the E3 stage. Despite the quality of sunset overdrive & Quantum Break, they seems to be duds from a sales standpoint. Recore seems to be a mistake. What else am i missing?

Cuphead? Is that one ever coming out, I know it's an indie but people were going nuts over it.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Btw does Sony own Bloodborne?

The general rule is that if Sony is publishing something then they own the IP. The only exceptions have been smaller Pub Fund games who get some financing from Sony, but even so I think they're self-published (i.e. Joe Danger, Guacamelee), and then there's No Man's Sky, which I think was 'distributed' by Sony but 'published' by Hello Games.

Weirdly enough Sony also seems to still own What Remains of Edith Finch. Unless the UK trademark hasn't yet been updated, but considering how long ago Sony & Giant Sparrow parted ways that seems odd: https://www.ipo.gov.uk/tmcase/Results/4/EU013540241

 

[J-Skee]

Btw does Sony own Bloodborne?

Yes, they do.

What's the deal with Below though? Did Capy get the rights back or is that still with Microsoft?

 

[miller.skippins]

Cuphead? Is that one ever coming out, I know it's an indie but people were going nuts over it.

I'm talking about released games. Cuphead is, as far as I am concern, a unicorn.

 

[Doffen]

Titanfall 2 flop because of EA's mismanagement...it's release in the middle of other even bigger FPS franchise during the peak period....nothing to do with multiplatform.

even if TF2 is still Xbox exclusive, it would have flopped if it's release on the same date.

Are you sure Xbox One isn't the fault of Titanfall 2's flop? Can't you also hear echoes of Titanfall signing the Xbox exclusivity clause?

 

[wapplew]

Any other example of Independence studio work with platform holder for ages and go multiplat success story?
Insomniac is only studio I can think of and back doing exclusive again.

 

[J-Skee]

Are you sure Xbox One isn't the fault of Titanfall 2's flop? Can't you also hear echoes of Titanfall signing the Xbox exclusivity clause?

The masses were always going to choose Battlefield over Titanfall. EA should've known this. Respawn should've known this. Terrible time to release the game. Will it eventually have legs like Rainbow Six? Only time will tell.

 

[SkyMasterson]

Remember when MS released Alan Wake on the same day as Red Dead Redemption?

Fucking aye. Despite that, it sold rather decent. Two of some of the best games to get out that generation, but just absurd on MS's part. They should have pushed it back at least a few weeks.