Remedy Entertainment

Remedy Entertainment grew out of the demoscene in Espoo, Finland, when members of the Future Crew group decided they needed a proper company to make games. Its founders were Samuli Syvähuoko, Markus Mäki, Sami Nopanen, John Kavaleff and Sami Vanhatalo, and the company was officially established on 18 August 1995. Its first game, Death Rally (1996), was made in the basement of Syvähuoko's parents' house and published by Apogee Software. To write its dialogue they brought in Sam Lake, who would later become the studio's creative director.

In 1997 the team made Final Reality, a benchmarking tool that was spun off into a new company, Futuremark. With Apogee's backing it then made Max Payne (2001), an action game built around slow-motion bullet time inspired by Hong Kong cinema and film noir, written by Lake and running on an in-house engine. It was a hit with both critics and players. Take-Two Interactive bought the rights to the series, which Rockstar Games still holds, and Remedy made Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (2003), which was acclaimed but sold poorly.

After seven years on Max Payne it wanted something new: Alan Wake (2010), published by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360 after a very long production, followed in 2012 by a PC version and the standalone Alan Wake's American Nightmare. With Microsoft it also made Quantum Break (2016), a hybrid of game and live-action series that debuted its Northlight engine. In 2017 Remedy went public to fund several projects at once, and with 505 Games it released Control (2019), its first game on a Sony console since Max Payne 2.

With Epic Games as publisher came Alan Wake Remastered (2021) and Alan Wake 2 (2023), part of a universe shared with Control. In 2022 it opened a second studio in Stockholm and, with funding from Rockstar, began remaking the first two Max Payne games. In 2024 it bought all rights to Control from 505 Games. FBC: Firebreak (2025), a multiplayer game set in the world of Control, fell short of sales expectations, and in September 2026 Remedy released Control Resonant. It is still based in Espoo.