Like just about every entertainment medium, video games are very expensive to make. As such, developers and publishers have to make sure they get back what they put into any given game. Some studios may spend over $100 million on a game, others spend much less. Control developer Remedy Entertainment is the latter, and has benefited because of it.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Remedy Entertainment CEO Tero Virtala discussed how the Finnish studio doesn’t require the same numbers as bigger development houses, and how it Control is still a success even without chart-topping sales.
“Control was developed in three years with a budget of less than €30 million. We don’t quite require the same huge lifetime numbers as many other games with bigger development budgets,” says Virtala. “Therefore, even though Control didn’t have chart-topping sales right from the get go, we are in a good position with steady sales. We always take the long view here.”
Virtala also talks about how Control can continue to do well for Remedy post-launch. “Nowadays, the majority of sales for many games are generated over a long period of time in digital stores — and Control continues to sell, which is good,” says Virtala. “We are bringing more free and paid content to the game. It has the proven high-quality and uniqueness, and the word-of-mouth that keeps growing.”
While Control hasn’t been the hottest seller this year, it did do well critically. It has garnered much praise since its launch, with it receiving a number of nominations at this year’s Game Awards including Game of the Year, Art Direction, Narrative, and Performance (Courtney Hope as Jesse Faden). You can check out our review to see what we thought of Remedy’s wild adventure.
In other Control news, Phil Spencer let slip that the game would be coming to Xbox Game Pass. However, Remedy put out a short statement on Twitter saying that the info was incorrect and that they do not have any announcements regarding Xbox Game Pass currently.
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