Remedy Entertainment, known for the likes of Alan Wake, Control, Quantum Break and more, has announced that it has entered into a global development, license and distribution agreeement with Chinese tech giant Tencent for an upcoming free-to-play co-operative PvE shooter codenamed "Vanguard".
The game is said to currently be in the proof-of-concept phase, and will "combine Remedy’s narrative expertise and action gameplay into an immersive multiplayer experience." It'll be developed using Unreal Engine, and its development budget will be "in the range of a typical Remedy AAA game budget."
So, where does Tencent come in? The plan is for Remedy to develop and publish Vanguard worldwide, however Tencent will localise and publish it for selected Asian markets. In addition, Tencent has been granted worldwide rights to develop and publish a mobile version of the game.
Here's what Tero Virtala, CEO of Remedy Entertainment, had to say about the news:
“Vanguard marks Remedy’s first entry into Games-as-a-Service business model, executed by our top tier team of free-to-play experts. We are building something new and exciting for co-operative multiplayer space, on top of Remedy’s strengths. Expanding our capabilities to take on publishing responsibilities is the next step in the development of our company.
We are excited for this long-term partnership with Tencent and with confidence can say that it is an excellent fit in supporting Vanguard’s ambitious plans. Vanguard is a global opportunity, and Tencent can support Remedy internationally, and lead the operations in Asia and the mobile markets.”
Remedy is busy with a variety of projects at the moment — there's the upcoming release of Xbox exclusive CrossfireX, a multiplayer spin-off of Control codenamed "Condor", and the highly-anticipated 2023 release of Alan Wake 2. Plus, there are preliminary plans in place for a full-blown Control sequel as well.
Sounds like the studio has got a hectic few years ahead!
What do you make of this news? Let us know down in the comments section below.
Comments 17
All well and good, but maybe they should just focus on their own games like Alan Wake 2 and whatever else they are doing with Control rather than jump in to these other games like this and CrossFireX. I'm a Remedy fan, which is probably why I'd rather they focused on their own stuff.
Free to play is never exciting. It’s compromised from the start and aimed at people that say things like….
“Free for me whilst whales pay”
The worst kind of scum and Villainy.
I’d much rather just pay the play good games with basic things included rather than hearing over and over “you don’t have to pay..” and “it’s just cosmetics”
All video games are just cosmetics. That’s the point.
F2P co-op PvE shooters seem a dime a dozen these days so needs something to set it apart
For me, Remedy do third person narrative focused action games very well so we'll see how CrossfireX and this turn out
Oh here we go, let me guess because tencent is involved the masses are now going to avoid this game?
Up next: Tencent buys Remedy.
I'll be skipping this due to Tencent. I just hope this "working" relationship doesn't lead to them buying another good company.
@InterceptorAlpha
Same. I'm not ashamed to admit that anytime I see Tencent my interest in said game drops right to 0. Also hope this doesn't lead to an acquisition. Some of my favorite Xbox games have been made by Remedy, still can't believe with all the purchasing MS has done Remedy hasn't been one of those studios.
@Gamer83 I feel like Remedy has been signalling that it doesn't want to be acquired by Microsoft. The fact that they bought back the rights to Alan Wake from MS and then decided to release Control on other platforms are indications to me that they'd rather be independent.
Love Remedy games. I’ve loved so many of their games that I’ll be honest, with this news and CrossfireX, I’m wondering why they are so dramatically changing what they do. Now that Tencent’s name is floating around, things all of a sudden make sense. It’s a real shame. I hope they don’t lose who they are for the sake of Tencent’s cash flow. I’m happy Remedy is independent, but I’d much rather see Microsoft or Sony buy them out before Tencent gets its hooks in
@LtSarge
Great point, didn't think about that. Of course, I'd counter that by saying for years Insomniac didn't want to be purchased either, and even at one point seemed to have a bit of a falling out with Sony not too many years before the company was bought up and made part of the PlayStation first party team. Everybody has a price and MS has a lot of $, I'd love to see something happen. If not, I hope Remedy does do well enough to keep making its own choices who it wants to work with and doesn't get nabbed by one of the Chinese tech giants.
Any time a studio comes forward to say "we are working on a new fps" what they're really saying is "we're working on a new cash cow". I'm so tired of hearing every other studio trying to jump on a bandwagon. If you havnt any ideas of your own, you're simply in the wrong business. It's almost never about bringing forward an original concept and I have no doubt that whatever they create will be a direct copy of a game we already have. Perhaps they'll mix it up by adding portals to Halo, or overwatch heroes to counterstrike, maybe they'll even include a battlepass? Whatever they do, I can already guarantee it won't be anything interesting. FPS games are just being milked for microtransactions and used to fund the rest of their dull development ideas. Honestly hope it flops, that markets already been oversaturated to death.
@Gamer83 That's true. Maybe Sony told Insomniac that if they want to make more Spider-Man games, they'd have to join them lol. And Spider-Man is probably a big deal for them. Perhaps Microsoft could convince Remedy to be acquired by letting them use some huge IPs, kinda like how Machine Games is working on an Indiana Jones game.
But yeah, Remedy has a lot of good stuff going on, like Control and Alan Wake II. Microsoft needs more single-player action/adventure games.
@UltimateOtaku91 nope, because an FPS is involved no one will be interested in their game. People are getting tired of studios spewing out generic fps games to try and make bank from microtransactions and low effort development.
@Mykomethod you say that but the masses flock to FPS games such as Halo, call of duty, splitgate, fortnite, Alex legends, Battlefield etc and all of those are riddled with microtransactions
@UltimateOtaku91 i believe he means f2p, but he's confusing it with fps...
I care squat about Tencent taking over the world. Businesses have to make money first, no matter if the product caters to the customers or if it's a cash cow. Remedy made a business decision, and time will tell if they did right or not.
@LtSarge
Control, AW 2, hell I even liked Quantum Break and wouldn't mind seeing that story continued. Even with all the new studios it does seem like MS is missing that one that is truly dedicated to narrative-driven single player experiences. Remedy fits in perfectly for that.
@Gamer83 Same, there's some companies that I simply refuse to support these days, and Tencent is one of them. Luckily I feel like Remedy kinda peaked already. If there is anything I have learned in recent years when it comes to the gaming industry, it's how foolish it is to get too invested in any particular developer. It seems like it's become a common thing for a developer to produce something that I love only to never live up to that standard again.
Remedy's not doing very well, are they? First the cheap money pot of crossfire and now tencent f2p. I'd be surprised if this doesn't lead to a buyout. Or a back door buyout.
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