Remedy Entertainment acquires Control IP rights from 505 Games

Remedy Entertainment has acquired all publishing, distributing, marketing, and other rights to the Control intellectual property from 505 Games, the developer announced.

The transaction includes rights to Control, four-player cooperative multiplayer spin-off Condor, Control 2, and all future Control products.

The key terms of the transaction are as follows:

• Termination of Agreements – Publishing agreements for Control, codename Condor, and Control 2 are immediately terminated by mutual agreement.
• Reversion of Rights – For Control 2 and codename Condor, all publishing, distribution, marketing, and other rights licensed to 505 Games revert to Remedy with immediate effect. 505 Games will continue as the publisher of Control through a transition period ending December 31, 2024, under the terms of the original Control publishing agreement. In addition, 505 Games continues to administrate existing B2B deals for Control until their agreed expiration dates. After the transition period and the expiry of these B2B deals, 505 Games will have no future royalty or other rights to Control.
• Purchase Price and Cash Flow Effect – The maximum purchase price for the transaction is approximately €17 million, which equals the amount that 505 Games has paid for the development of codename Condor and Control 2 to date including a minor premium. Remedy is entitled to set off certain receivables from the purchase price and, therefore, the cash flow effect from the transaction will be clearly less than the purchase price. Remedy will pay the net purchase price in three cash instalments during the next twelve months.

According to Remedy Entertainment, the transaction will allow it to negotiate better deals for current and future Control games, and it will weigh the options between self-publishing or finding a new publishing partner for Project Condor and Control 2.

“Ever since we signed up with 505 Games in 2017 to develop and publish Control, we have enjoyed a good partnership in building Control into a successful game that has sold over four million units and generated shareable net revenue of approximately €100 million to Remedy and 505 Games,” Remedy Entertainment CEO Tero Virtala said in a press release. “As part of Remedy’s long-term strategy to have more ownership over our business and the IPs we have created, we have gotten back all rights for Control and the in-development Condor and Control 2.

“Having complete ownership over the Control franchise gives us the freedom to decide the best path forward. We will consider our options carefully, knowing that Control is considered an attractive franchise by many partners. Condor and Control 2 have both progressed well in recent months and we expect these projects to reach their next development stages during the first half of 2024. The development of Condor and Control 2 will continue normally when we consider the best publishing, distribution and financing model for these projects.”

Virtala continued, “As we amicably part ways, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the 505 Games team for our partnership over the years and for helping to establish Control as a gaming franchise with a lot of future potential.”