While we were under the impression that Remedy Entertainment already owned the Control IP, it turns out that was not the case. A few years ago, Remedy obtained the rights to Alan Wake back from Microsoft and now, Remedy has also parted with a chunk of cash to buy the full rights to Control from the game's publisher, 505 Games.
In an announcement today, Remedy has confirmed that it has spent €17 million to acquire the full rights to Control from 505 Games. While the game was developed by Remedy from the ground up, 505 Games took on publishing duties and it seems part of that deal included partial ownership of rights. Now, Remedy is in full control of the IP moving forward, paving the way for sequels and cross-overs with its other franchises.
This move makes plenty of sense, as Remedy Entertainment is angling to set up its own cross-IP games universe, connecting titles like Control and Alan Wake with shared themes, concepts and character appearances. Remedy first kicked this off with Control's second DLC, which featured an appearance from Alan Wake. A future DLC for Alan Wake 2 is set to further intertwine the two games.
Aside from the full rights to Control, Remedy now also has the rights to Concord, an in-development project that has not yet been formally announced or shown to the public.
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KitGuru Says: I've said this many times but Control is one of my absolute favourite games in recent years. I'm glad to see that Remedy won't have to worry about shared rights or gaining approvals from third-parties as it continues to develop the series. We still don't have a release date for Control 2, but we do know it is in the works, so hopefully we'll learn more about it soon.