Alan Wake II, one of Sweet Baby Inc.’s infamous gaming victims, has finally started turning a profit more than a year after launch. However, its developer Remedy, a continued SBI partner, is still operating in the red.
The entire controversy of Alan Wake II had multiple facets. The first and main was that Remedy Entertainment hired Sweet Baby Inc. to develop the narrative for the game.
Sweet Baby Inc. CEO Kim Belair via InclusionFX YouTube
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Sweet Baby Inc. is best known for its negative impact on the video game industry. The “consultancy company” claims to work with developers to make games more inclusive. In truth, they insert agendas into the games they work on. God of War: Ragnarök, Spider-Man 2, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and Kill The Justice League are a few good examples. Alan Wake II is on that same list.
Sweet Baby Inc.’s influence dissuaded gamers from purchasing the sequel title, resulting in low profits for Remedy Entertainment. With sales down, the studio resorted to using bots to promote the game. This didn’t work for them, either. Remedy’s financial statement at the time revealed the company had not regained any profits following the game’s release.
Now, after more than a year, it seems that Remedy is finally recouping some of those losses.
A screenshot from Alan Wake 2 (2023), Remedy
According to Remedy’s recent financial statement for the end of 2024, the game has finally begun to accrue royalties for the company. It also revealed that more than 2 million copies of Alan Wake II sold by the end of the fourth quarter. Their projections for 2025 are for “revenue and operating profit to increase from the previous year and operating profit to be positive.”
Remedy Entertainment CEO Tero Virtala made the following in the statement:
“In the fourth quarter of 2024, revenue increased 13.1% from a year ago to EUR 11.7 million. Development fees increased, driven by higher development fees from Max Payne 1&2 Remake and Control 2. Royalties decreased from the comparison period. . . . By the end of 2024, Alan Wake II had recouped its development fees and marketing investments, meaning that Remedy started to accrue royalties towards the end of the quarter. In the fourth quarter, the operating profit was EUR -1.4 million, improving by EUR 11.4 million from the comparison period, in which we had a EUR 7.2 million impairment loss from codename Vanguard.”
In layman’s terms, Remedy’s revenue increased by 13.1% in Q4 2024, reaching €11.7 million, largely due to development fees from Max Payne 1&2 Remake and Control 2. However, royalties were lower than the previous year. Despite the involvement of SBI, Alan Wake II finally broke even and recouped its development and marketing costs, meaning future sales will generate profit. Despite this, Remedy still reported a €1.4 million operating loss for the quarter, though this was a significant improvement from the previous year’s €11.4 million deficit, which included a €7.2 million impairment loss from a project called Codename Vanguard, suggesting financial difficulties or a major shift in that project.
In other words, Remedy is almost profitable. However, they might not be for long.
Kim Belair via BlackGirlGamers YouTube
Reports claim that Remedy Entertainment is still allied with Sweet Baby Inc. and will continue to work with them on upcoming games. If true, given how SBI affects gaming profits, Remedy should expect more losses than gains in the future.
What do you think? Are you surprised by that Alan Wake II is finally making money despite its connection to SBI? Let us know in the comments.
