Thesudden staff exodus at Annapurna Interactivecaught most of us by surprise. We’re still sort of watching to see what the fallout is going to be. But whatever the outcome is, it’s thankfully not going to have an effect onControl 2,according to Thomas Puha, communication direct at Remedy.
The worry comes from a previous announcement by the company that they arepartnering with Annapurna Picturesto fund the sequel to 2019’sControl. The deal saw Annapurna Picture gain the rights to produce film or TV based onControlandAlan Wakein return for funding 50% of the development budget of Remedy’sControl 2.
As Puha points out, this deal was with Annapurna Pictures. And again, while we’re still waiting to hear what the ultimate outcome will be after the exodus of most of Annapurna Interactive’s staff, Puha is suggesting that it won’t affect Annapurna Pictures. Moreover, Remedy is self-publishingControl 2, so the fate of its release is tied to Remedy itself.
This should come as some relief for fans. Annapurna Interactive’s entire gaming division staff resigned following a failure of negotiations with the company’s founder, Megan Ellison, to spin the gaming division off to its own company. I’m still kind of processing the event myself because that’s an incredible failure of leadership. It remains to be seen if a completely new staff will be brought in or if the publisher will cease operation. In the meantime, Ellison says, “Our top priority is continuing to support our developer and publishing partners during this transition.”
Coming so soon afterHumble Games “restructured”by laying off the entire staff andAdult Swim Gamesabruptly shutting down, it’s been an awful time for small-budget publishers and developers who rely on them. Oh, gosh. This has all been in 2024. What a year.
