Alan Wake 2 Game Director Kyle Rowley was recently featured in an hour-long video interview published on the Behind The Voice YouTube channel.
During the lengthy conversation, the industry veteran (Rowley started as a Q&A tester on Black and White 2 twenty years ago, then worked as a designer on The Outsider, Homefront: The Revolution, and RuneScape before joining Remedy) revealed that he thought the Finnish studio should aim to be the European version of Naughty Dog.
When I came to Quantum Break, I was just excited about working on something that had... you know, one of my favorite games at the time was Uncharted, and I knew that we were going to do something that... I remember having a discussion with our lead animator at the time, and I was like, I think that we should be aiming to kind of be like the European version of Naughty Dog. Like, that would be cool if we could kind of get that same level of feel, and that was the type of game that I like to play, and so I was excited about working on it.
It's not at all a farfetched comparison. Both studios make action/adventure games with a highly cinematic flair. Of course, while both studios are highly acclaimed, Naughty Dog's games tend to sell a lot more - though to be fair, they also cost a lot more. For comparison, Naughty Dog's most recent game (The Last of Us Part II, which will soon launch on PC in its remastered version) cost $220 million, while Alan Wake 2 cost €70 million, according to Finnish analysts. However, Remedy is also used to make even cheaper games. Control famously only cost €30 million, and the initial budget for the upcoming sequel was set at €50 million.
Interestingly, Naughty Dog is stepping a bit into Remedy's comfort zone with its new sci-fi IP, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, which was just announced at The Game Awards 2024. On the other hand, Remedy appears to be following in Naughty Dog's footsteps when it comes to adapting its game IPs to live-action film/TV. Naughty Dog successfully did it (thanks to Sony, of course) with Uncharted and The Last of Us, while Remedy partnered with Annapurna to adapt Alan Wake 2 and Control.
Do you feel that Remedy is on the right path to be a European Naughty Dog? Vote in the poll below.
- Yes, they're already just as good if not better 49%, 96 votes96 votes 49%96 votes - 49% of all votes
- They are getting there, but Naughty Dog is still unmatched 30%, 59 votes59 votes 30%59 votes - 30% of all votes
- No way, Naughty Dog is on another level 21%, 42 votes42 votes 21%42 votes - 21% of all votes
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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