Remedy CEO steps down following FBC: Firebreak's weak sales

Remedy Entertainment CEO Tero Virtala has stepped down from his position at the Alan Wake studio with immediate effect, just two weeks after the company issued a profit warning to investors due to the poor performance of Control spin-off FBC: Firebreak.

The details:

• Virtala, who has led Remedy since August 2016, will be succeeded by Markus Mäki as interim CEO until a permanent replacement is appointed. The official announcement shared on Remedy's website did not specify a reason for the sudden change in leadership, it is worth noting that the studio issued a profit warning earlier this month due to FBC: Firebreak's weak commercial performance.
• FBC: Firebreak, which was notably Remedy's first full multiplayer project and set within the Control universe, has failed to meet internal sales targets since its June launch. Despite major updates aimed at improving player engagement and game performance, the title continued to underperform, particularly on PC via Steam, where player numbers dropped dramatically after launch. The lack of interest has resulted in Remedy projecting an operating profit loss for the current business year.
• Remedy co-founder and now interim CEO Markus Mäki also thanked Virtala for his contributions after joining the company over a decade ago. Despite the poor performance of FBC: Firebreak, Remedy is working on remakes of the first two Max Payne titles and a sequel to Control, both of which are likely to perform well commercially.