Remedy franchises such as Alan Wake and Control “should have sold more”, the company’s new CEO has said.
Jean-Charles Gaudechon was appointed as Remedy’s new boss back in March, prompting raised eyebrows from fans of the studio’s offbeat single-player fare. Gaudechon’s resume includes nearly five years at EA, with a particular focus on the PC and mobile versions of FIFA. Since then, he’s worked on various sport-related ventures, including two years running a fantasy NFL platform.
In a new interview with The Game Business, Gaudechon acknowledged some of the skepticism surrounding his past while stating that he knew Remedy’s “one-of-a-kind” creativity needed to be “protected.” At the same time, Gaudechon said he believed the company “could make some improvements” to ensure its work found a wider audience.
“Remedy is one of the few studios which is genuinely supported by players,” Gaudechon said. “Even my announcement was something I loved, because people were protecting Remedy. When I was announced, people from the industry and close friends sent me messages saying things like: ‘JC, that’s awesome. Congrats.’ And the last line was, ‘Don’t f*** it up.’ It was: ‘We love Remedy so much. Don’t f*** it up.’ That shows you how much people love Remedy.”
Remedy has released a flurry of games over the past five years, though none have been breakout hits. Its multiplayer experiment FBC: Firebreak was a flop, while sluggish sales of Alan Wake 2 meant the game took over a year to turn a profit. Its work on the campaign for Korean shooter CrossfireX reviewed poorly, while its long-in-development Max Payne and Max Payne 2 remakes were announced four years ago with nothing seen since.
In the short-term, the studio is focusing on Control Resonant, the sequel to 2019’s well-received Control that’s currently due at some point this year. But Gaudechon said he was aware that Remedy’s franchises need a bigger audience — something its strategic partnership with Annapurna for TV and film adaptations announced back in 2024 will hopefully provide.
“Control, Alan Wake, etc. could give a lot more,” Gaudechon said. “There’s a vision on thinking bigger for some of these IPs, which need to find its audience much, much further than the current audience. It’s super exciting.
“We need to think more about how we are approaching our IPs as a franchise,” he continued. “How do we grow the community? [Our deal with] Annapurna goes into making our games, our franchises shine further and reach an audience that doesn’t exist today.
“It’s a pity, I think Alan Wake should have sold more. Control should have sold more. To me, that’s one of the first things we need to fix, even before trying to make more games to a certain extent. First of all, maximize the potential of the ones we have, because they’re incredible. And cross-media is going to help us do that.”
IGN recently took a closer look at Control Resonant, and came away impressed by its aggressive, fast-paced combat. As of yet, there’s no word on when this year it’ll launch.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
