This morning, Finnish developer Remedy Games released the half-year financial report, admitting that FBC: Firebreak did not perform well. We already knew that, and the milestone of one million players was highly misleading since the game was available on both Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus to the respective subscribers.
Indeed, Remedy CEO Tero Virtala said that the majority of the players were on those two platforms, whereas the Steam launch 'underperformed' compared to the studio's hopes:
The game's initial onboarding experience and mission structure resulted in high early player drop-offs and an influx of negative reviews. As players spent more time in the game and we released updates improving the game, sentiment in reviews turned more positive.
Commercially, we were unsatisfied with the launch-phase consumer sales of FBC: Firebreak. Thus far, FBC: Firebreak's commercial performance has largely been driven by the Xbox and PlayStation subscription service agreements. A considerable portion of the revenues from these agreements will still be recognized throughout the contract period.
With that being said, it was not all doom-and-gloom from the Remedy executive, who noted that FBC: Firebreak was always meant to be a live, evolving game. The studio now thinks it has a solid foundation to expand on, with the next major update scheduled to go live in late September.
On the bright side, Control's lifetime sales have now surpassed five million units. Remedy regained full control of its publishing, distribution, and marketing rights in February 2024, so the sales now go only to the Finnish developer. Alan Wake 2 continues to sell 'steadily' and accrue royalties, according to Virtala, who then switched to an update on the studio's upcoming projects.
Control 2 (which is being made on a smaller budget than Alan Wake 2) is on track to meet its next milestones, which will be focused on gameplay, environments, and missions. The studio wants the game to have a strong commercial offering when it launches. The Max Payne 1 & 2 remake also made steady progress; during the last quarter, Remedy built on the momentum established earlier in 2025 while collaborating closely with IP owner Rockstar Games.
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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