Remedy Entertainment is on a hot streak right now, with back to back hits in the form of Control and Alan Wake 2. The latter was one of last year’s best releases, pushing the survival horror genre into groundbreaking territory. Following the game’s success, Remedy has now purchased the full rights to the Control franchise, and I need the studio to do the same with Quantum Break.
In a recent statement from the Alan Wake 2 developer, Remedy announces that “all publishing, distribution, marketing and other rights to Control, codename Condor, Control 2, and all future Control products will revert to Remedy.” Control was published by 505 Games, and will continue to own the rights to the first entry until Tuesday, December 31, 2024. It’s a move that possibly couldn’t have taken place without Remedy creating one of the best games of the decade. This success is even more astounding, given that Alan Wake 2 was a digital only release, and it is unknown how many more millions of units it could have shifted with physical distribution.
The transaction to acquire Control cost a considerable chunk of change – €17 million to be exact. In a recent social media post, Remedy communications director Thomas Puha says “the name Control kind of came from Remedy taking back control of its destiny”, and taking back Quantum Break from Microsoft should be the next chapter of this journey. The Xbox exclusive is one of the best Xbox Game Pass games you can download right now. Upon release, it quickly emerged as a huge seller for the Xbox One, and gave way to Remedy’s pioneering of the Northlight engine.
Sadly, the Quantum Break IP remains locked away in the Microsoft vaults, making crossovers with the wide Remedy Connected Universe difficult. It’s no secret that Remedy creative director Sam Lake wants to revisit the material – you only need to look at Shawn Ashmore’s role in Alan Wake 2 to confirm that. I mean, his character is called Tim Breaker, a playful nod that you could say sounds like Time Breaker. Not to mention that Quantum Break itself basically spells out major plot points for Alan Wake 2, all the way back in 2016 on an in-game whiteboard.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly last year, Lake says that the acclaimed time-warping shooter and Max Payne “are not part of the Remedy Connected Universe […] that being said, in a purely speculative, Easter egg kind of way, I do love the idea of enabling our audience to come up with theories. I don’t want to shoot them down on that level.” It’s a nice way to keep fans engaged with the franchise, and Remedy fans are on another level when it comes to connecting the dots. I’ve been obsessed with Remedy’s games since I was too young to play Max Payne on my brother’s PS2, and haven’t stopped trying to make my connections with Remedy’s lore, too.
Bringing Quantum Break back to Remedy isn’t just good for the studio’s creative ambitions, but it’d be a huge win for welcoming in new players too. Alan Wake Remastered transitions the game onto platforms, immediately forging it as one of the best PS5 games out there, as thousands of players experienced its zany story and charm for the first time.
Quantum Break deserves that same level of care applied to it, and I know that Remedy would knock a hypothetical PS5 release out of the park. The game already looks stunning and feels superb, taking it further with current-gen polish would be the cherry on top.
Remedy’s future is extremely exciting, as Alan Wake 2 DLC draws closer, which includes a Control-focused expansion called The Lake House. However, as awesome as that will be, I’ll be waiting for Remedy to take control of Quantum Break.