Remedy Entertainment Oy

Remedy Entertainment Oy

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EUR
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197.06MMarket Cap
Nov 03Next Earn

Q2 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptAugust 11, 2026

Aapo Kilpinen

The agenda for today, JC will guide us through the quarter's numbers, and then we'll take a deeper look at Control: Resonant. We'll cover our marketing ramp up during Q2, the sentiment, commercial indicators, and the launch window positioning.

Then as usual, we'll take a look at our games in the market, as well as our development pipeline. Santtu will then do a deeper dive on the financials, and we'll end with a Q&A.

Any questions you have already, feel free to leave those in the text box below the webcast. Without further ado, please JC, the stage is yours.

JC Gaudechon

All right, thank you, [Aapo?] .

Hello, everyone. The headline numbers first.

Revenue was €10.2 million this quarter, down 40% from the comparison period. EBITDA was -€2.4 million and EBIT -€3.9 million.

Operating cash flow slightly negative at -€0.7 million. Two main factors explain this quarter's performance.

First, the comparison quarter included the launch of FBC: Firebreak with its initial subscription accruals. Second, marketing for Control: Resonant ramped up during the quarter, reducing profitability as anticipated.

Let's talk about what this quarter was all about. Control: Resonant launches worldwide on September 24th.

We can now finally speak about the date. This is Remedy developing and self-publishing the sequel to Control, our own IP, our own voice, and our most ambitious release to date.

We revealed the launch date with a trailer shown at State of Play in June. Let's look at it again now.

Something is coming. I have to go.

It felt like an earthquake. It was just a paperclip falling off a desk, the tiniest tremor before the main event.

Jesse. I know what they put you through.

You never had a chance. Two days before the lockdown fell, an uncategorized resonance appeared in Manhattan.

As things stand right now, Dylan, you're our only shot at survival. You are not FBC.

You're not even fucking human. The FBC locked me in that cell for years and forgot about me.

The Hiss, it was a way out. People can change.

The past doesn't matter. Who are you today?

We're going to have a lot of fun together.

JC Gaudechon

All right, cool. We had two trailers that same week, the one we just saw and the second trailer at Summer Game Fest.

That lifted our embargo. Then media and content creators went hands-on with a three-hour build of the game.

One thing I want to highlight here, the move to faster, kind of melee action, different type of gameplay was the most debated aspect at announcement for good reason. It was something new for Remedy, but something we learned with this demo is that this has become one of the most positive feedback we got on the game, which is excellent to see alongside of course the atmosphere and storytelling that Remedy is very well known for, encouraging as we approach launch.

We have an ambitious global campaign for this game. After the trailers were revealed, we ramped up the activity and got members of the team on the road to meet fans and support our hands-on demo.

We got 20 million impressions from that tour so far, over 1,000 articles were written and 71 content creators engaged worldwide, which at this stage is really good and only the beginning. Just over a week ago, we were at ChinaJoy in Shanghai with a very promising reception from the local audience.

We are also listening to live feedback when people play the game and localization quality, which as I mentioned before, is extremely important for us. Next up, we're in Gamescom in Cologne, where we're gearing up for a great show, including a community event where you're all invited.

Our marketing accelerates further in the third quarter. I can't reveal too much for now, but there's a lot to expect leading up to the launch.

We got some great and constructive early coverage quoting Eurogamer, "how video games should be done," and Polygon, "a bolder sequel than we ever could have expected." We're very grateful for this reception, but we also keep it in perspective.

These are only previews of an early build, not reviews of the finished game obviously, but even from that demo, the game has come a long way, we're very bullish. Interest has matched the sentiment.

As of today, we have over 1.5 million wishlists across platforms. Wishlist growth, as typically tracks campaign activity, which will keep intensifying further in Q3, only bigger numbers to come.

During the campaign window in June, our analytics showed that Control: Resonant was among the top three most pre-ordered games on PlayStation in the US, Germany, and Brazil, and Chinese-speaking markets are our second-largest market in Steam unit pre-orders. We are seeing strength in both our traditional and growth markets.

There's been a lot of talk around a very busy launch window, and for good reasons. There are a lot of great games coming in September, but the first priority for us has always been to ship an outstanding game and a very unique experience that we believe has a real chance to stand out.

The following factors also give us confidence. We're day one on all major platforms, which is a first for Remedy, and this is our most localized product ever, which I believe I mentioned before, which matters tremendously in order to reach new markets and grow our audience.

Also the price point, €59.99 for the standard edition, this is basically AAA quality at an attractive price against comparable titles in autumn. We made the conscious decision to keep this product priced attractively.

Overall, I just don't think there's such things as a perfect window these days. There are amazing games coming out all through the year.

I think the real differentiator today is quality and uniqueness, where we're pushing really strongly on Control: Resonant. That's it for Control: Resonant.

Let's look at our games in the market. Alan Wake 2 passed 3 million lifetime copies sold during the second quarter.

Consumer sales continue at an expected pace, and royalties in Q2 were generated entirely from consumer sales. No platform deal accruals this quarter.

Control is a good example of the power of franchises, which is extremely important for me. In its seventh year on the market, Control grew year-on-year in Q2, over 6 million copies sold, more than 20 million lifetime players.

The Control: Resonant campaign is renewing interest in the original game, and Control remains the entry point into the franchise for new fans. On FBC: Firebreak, unfortunately this is the main driver of the year-on-year decline in game sales and royalties, because as mentioned previously, the comparison quarter contained its launch and the initial accruals that came with it.

This quarter, most of Firebreak sales were revenue accruals from our subscription service agreements, and the game continues to be available on Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus. Naturally, all eyes are on Control: Resonant, but it's important to remember that we are a multi-project studio.

Max Payne 1&2 remake remains in full production with Rockstar Games, and our new project moved to production readiness, the next stage gate on our development framework. With that, over to Santtu for the financials.

Santtu Kallionpää

Thank you, JC, and good afternoon. Before jumping into financials, let's start with discussing the reporting logic.

As this is now first time when we are receiving pre-orders as a self-publisher, it's good to walk through how these are shown in our P&L and balance sheet. Before the game launch, pre-orders are not are not recognized as revenue.

As based on IFRS, sales can't be accrued before the performance obligation has been fulfilled. In our case, this means delivering the game to the players.

Based on this, on the launch date, all pre-order revenue is recognized. At the same time, also related platform fees and royalties are accrued as costs.

After that, accruing sales and and the related partner expenses will happen on continuous basis. On balance sheet, pre-orders are shown in advances received only if we have received payments from the platforms before the game launch.

As there is usually at least one month delay in receiving the payments, there are no cash flow impacts from pre-orders in our Q2 reported figures. After the game launch, reported sales will be shown in trade receivables or in cash, depending on if the actual payment from platform to us has taken place.

As said, there is usually at least one month delay with the actual payment related to sales, and and this also varies depending on on the platform. In outgoing cash side, it's good to note we are paying contract-based royalties to our partner with delay after first receiving the cash ourselves.

Then let's move on to actual figures of our second quarter report and start with the revenue. Our second quarter 2026 revenue was €10.2 million, decrease from the previous year was 40%.

The decline in revenue was mainly from the game sales and royalties side. The main factor for the decrease was the initial revenue accruals from FBC: Firebreak's subscription service agreements that were linked to the release of the game in the comparison period last year.

In Q2 2026, Control, FBC: Firebreak, and Alan Wake 2 were the main drivers of of game sales and royalties revenue. Looking at the development fees, those also decreased from the comparison period.

The development fees were from Max Payne 1&2 remake and Control: Resonant. In this quarter, the exchange rates didn't have a big impact on on the revenue level.

Then looking a longer period, we can see revenue variations from quarter to quarter. The amount of development fees is based on agreed development milestones.

In Q2 2026, those were on a lower level than during the last couple of quarters. In a longer perspective, we can see the effects of the self-publishing strategy.

The game sales and royalties have been on a higher level since the beginning of 2025 as our own published games generate meaningful game sales. FBC: Firebreak continues to be available in the gaming services.

However, the game is already one year old and and we have not had new game launches since then, which explains the decline in game sales. As said, Control: Resonant pre-orders are not included in the Q2 figures as we can't accrue these sales before the game is available to the gamers.

Then moving on to profitability. The operating profit was -€3.9 million in Q2 2026, which was €3.5 million less than in the comparison period.

EBITDA was at -€2.4 million and on a lower level than in the comparison period. Our other operating expenses increased from a year ago as we ramped up our marketing efforts for Control: Resonant.

As we head to the third quarter and the game launch approaches, the marketing expenses are expected to grow even more. Overall, the profitability was largely affected by the revenue decrease in Q2 2026 driven by lower level in game sales and royalties and also partly in development fees.

Then let's dive in our costs in more more detail. Gross external development and personnel expenses in total decreased by 8.5% from €12.6 million in Q2 2025 to €11.6 million in Q2 2026.

Following the year-on-year trend and and external development needs in the game projects, the external work expenses were at €2.6 million, being clearly lower than a year ago. We have been able to complete more required external development in-house than before.

The personnel expenses increased by 7.3% and were €9 million in Q2 2026. The increase was mainly due to general increase in salary levels and additional efforts put towards the game launch.

The capitalized development expenses were €3.7 million in Q2 2026. The amount of capitalization is higher than in the previous quarters, mainly due to the increased development efforts put into Control: Resonant.

Then depreciation, in total it was €1.6 million and and were on a level in Q2 2026 than sorry, it was on a lower level in Q2 2026 than during the previous quarters. €0.9 million of the total depreciation was related to game projects.

This included Alan Wake 2 and FBC: Firebreak depreciations. Depreciation closely follow the level of game sales of the games which we are depreciating.

Depreciation of Control: Resonant will start when the game has launched, and other depreciations they have stayed on a similar level from quarter to quarter. At the end of June 2026, our total cash level was €29.6 million, including €9.6 million in cash and €20 million in short-term cash management investments.

Cash flow from operations was -€0.7 million. The main driver for the negative operating cash flow was the period's low revenue level.

Cash flow from investments at -€3.8 million had the biggest impact on the period-end cash position as the investments in our capitalized development projects, mainly in Control: Resonant, increased. Cash flow from financing included the IFRS lease liability payments, and it was on on a similar level as in previous quarters.

Net cash flow in the first half of 2026 has been -€0.1 million, including €7 million investments offset by positive operating cash flow. Looking at the year-to-date revenue from the first half of the year, it was €23.3 million.

This is €7 million less than first half of 2025 as we had Firebreak launching in in second quarter 2025. In the first half of 2026, we started investing more in marketing.

At the same time, we have kept on working on our cost structure and we have managed to decrease our outsourcing expenses. Ahead of the new game launch, our profitability declined from a year ago with EBITDA being in the first half of the year 2.3% positive and an EBIT 12.5% negative.

This year's profitability in overall will be defined by the sales of Control: Resonant. Now JC will continue with outlook.

JC Gaudechon

Thank you, Santtu. Our outlook is for the year thank you, our full-year outlook is unchanged.

We expect revenue and EBITDA to increase from the previous year.

Aapo Kilpinen

All right, let's head to the Q&A session next. Any questions you have, leave those in the text box below the webcast.

We already have a couple good questions in the pipeline, let's begin with those. A bulk of the questions are in relation to Control: Resonant first, and let's start with the commercial indicators.

After disclosing more than 1.5 million wishlists, what can you tell us about the conversions into pre-orders?

JC Gaudechon

Okay. First, 1.5 million wishlists is an achievement.

We're very happy about where we stand, and we're pretty much on track with what we were planning, so that's actually great news. When it comes to conversion, of course, it really depends.

We've seen games actually with a lot of wishlists not converting as well. We've also seen some games which weren't as focused on wishlisting that did really well.

This is not science. The one thing we control today is to push that number as high as we can.

Of course, one thing that is really positive for a game like Control: Resonant, it's the sequel of a well-established franchise, which obviously has a nucleus of players, of fans that are here and we hope will be here day one, and that is conversion, but also all the work that the team is doing today to expand our global audience and make that a day-one purchase. Obviously, we can expect a healthy level of conversions.

Aapo Kilpinen

Very good. Then looking at the conversions, are the pre-orders running ahead or in line or behind your internal plans?

JC Gaudechon

Pre-orders are positive also. As I mentioned in the slides, we're very happy about being in top pre-orders in the kind of window that we released that or did that announcement.

Far, very happy, very bullish on pre-orders. Of course, we don't have internal as easy numbers to compare, but what I can say is that it's tracking ahead of some of our previous games, which is very healthy again on the pre-order front.

Aapo Kilpinen

Very good. Then on the wishlist number, is the figure cumulative or net of cancellations?

JC Gaudechon

It is net of cancellations, it's actually a true number. We've actually removed people that decided to pull out.

That's basically, yeah, I could say here that is an absolute true number. Yes, it is cumulative, but of course removing these people.

One thing I wanted to mention also both for pre-orders and wishlist, it's still early, and most of these numbers accelerate much further as we get closer to launch, we're again tracking well.

Aapo Kilpinen

Very good. Is there something you want to communicate for the split between platforms on the pre-orders?

JC Gaudechon

I can't give precise numbers on the split. What I can say is it's strong on all platforms.

Aapo Kilpinen

Very good. Excellent.

Then heading to China next, how has Control: Resonant been received in the Chinese market or the Chinese-speaking market, and what are your expectations for that market?

JC Gaudechon

Indeed, and I've said it before, China is a priority for us along all our core market, and reason for that, by the way, is our data has shown that Control has done really well in China. This is a franchise that resonated well in China, which is also why this is grounded in reality.

This is not kind of a shot in the dark. Also why we were at ChinaJoy just a bit more than a week ago, and we had actually a great show, allowing fans, press, content creators to play the game.

The game has been really well received so far. As I said, extremely important for us to really feel how the game resonated locally and also the quality of localization since, as for Chinese we also have VO.

We're being very close to feedback from local audience.

Aapo Kilpinen

Very good. Then next maybe to Santtu, how does your net share how does your share of net sales with Annapurna change once the production and marketing investment is recouped?

Santtu Kallionpää

Yeah. When recouping the investments is happening, it's happening in relation of the investments made.

After the investment has been recouped, then Remedy will receive greater share of the net sales of Control: Resonant.

Aapo Kilpinen

Very good. Then on the marketing spend, we said that the marketing will accelerate further in the third quarter.

Will Q3 marketing spend for Control: Resonant exceed Q1 and Q2 combined, Santtu?

Santtu Kallionpää

Yeah. I think it's a good assumption that the kind of peak of the marketing cost and the investments made, it will happen around the launch window.

I will not give an exact guidance for Q3, but I can say that the second half of the year it's greater in marketing costs than the first half of the year.

Aapo Kilpinen

Gotcha. Then the next one is, what is the total budget for Control: Resonant?

Is it in line with our AAA budgets? Is there something you want to add on that?

Santtu Kallionpää

I can say that as you said, it's our AAA game, which anyway, I think Remedy can make much more affordable way compared to many companies around the world.

Aapo Kilpinen

Right. Excellent.

I think those were the questions for Control: Resonant as of moment, but let's continue with the Control franchise. Santtu, also Control grew in comparison to the comparison period.

Was this in copies, revenue, or both?

Santtu Kallionpää

I would say it's in both. As currently, of course, the discounts are quite deep, we get a lot of copies sold, but also in sales, we're getting a good traction with Control.

Aapo Kilpinen

Excellent. Then heading to a bit more general questions next.

JC, the third new project is moving with a solid pace in the development pipeline and a bit faster than the previous games. What are the key drivers behind us accelerating the pace with the new project?

JC Gaudechon

It's a good question. I'm happy there's actually focus on other projects and how we develop games, because obviously at Remedy, we always thrive to improve on how we make games, and was a priority for me when I joined Remedy.

It's indeed progressing well. I would say the main factors for this is a team that is well staffed early.

It's a project that is well managed and well planned, which allows us to basically be on time, on quality for each of the development milestones, always keeping quality product at the center of it. We're not interested in just getting through the gates just for the sake of it.

It has to be a great game that we're building every step of the way. I just want to put it out there that yes, it is and it's actually progressing well, both on time and on quality.

Aapo Kilpinen

Very good. Then Santtu, extending on the marketing budget, is the budget fixed or is there potential to increase it if the reception is good enough?

Santtu Kallionpää

Yeah. We have certain base marketing plan which we follow, but of course when marketing this kind of game, there needs to be room to take also reaction depending on how we see things are working out.

Yes, it's a flexible budget also.

Aapo Kilpinen

Very good. Then heading to more general questions with JC, will you port your older titles to mobile phones?

JC Gaudechon

Early to say. We're very happy about kind of the quality of Control on mobile, which was released not long ago.

That's actually a great proof of concept, I would say. Too early to say for other games.

If there's an opportunity, we're always looking at all new platforms. I see questions around there's mobile, but there's questions around Switch 2, and these are platforms we always keep an eye on, we'll always keep in the future looking into.

If there's the ability both to do it and to get in the hands of more players, that's going to be a very, very important focus for Remedy. We talked about growing our global audience, and you do it through marketing, publishing strategy on a specific game, you also do it by being on more platforms, we'll absolutely be looking at moving to more platforms, be it mobile, console, or others.

Aapo Kilpinen

Excellent. Then looking more to the development pipeline again, are you exploring live-service games in the future?

JC Gaudechon

Not a focus today. Of course there's experience now in the studio with the different projects that were done in the past.

Today, and I think I said it in my first earnings call and I said it again, we need to be extremely strong at the core, and we need to defend the core of what makes Remedy great. Today what makes Remedy great is incredible, super creative, high quality single-player experiences.

I'm not going to move away from this until this is in an excellent place. If there is a good reason to look at a live-service model, then we'll start looking at it, but I'll repeat today this is not a priority.

Aapo Kilpinen

Very good. Then on the new project that is now in production readiness, can you comment on whether you're in the process of looking for financing and publishing partners, or is it self-published?

JC Gaudechon

It's too early to say. Today our priority, of course, is to self-publish our own games.

Aapo Kilpinen

Very good. Then as I suppose going to the transmedia opportunities, have you considered expanding Remedy Connected Universe beyond games, for example, transmedia or films?

JC Gaudechon

Absolutely. If you actually dig a little bit, you see that we've already made some moves in this space.

Yes, transmedia for such a story-rich studio that we are and story-rich franchises, it would be an enormous waste not to invest into the Remedy Connected Universe. Actually that's something to me I'm very bullish on.

Yes, absolutely. One, the transmedia strategy is essential to Remedy, and two, the RCU is essential to Remedy's future.

Aapo Kilpinen

Very good. Then on the long tail of Control: Resonant, are you exploring DLC options for Control: Resonant?

JC Gaudechon

Let's see how the game lands. I am not the type of going have a manifest destiny approach, but if the way we plan, it's going to be a great product and it's going to land well, we will absolutely be looking into content updates.

If we can give more to happy players, we will do so.

Aapo Kilpinen

Excellent. Then I suppose a last question on the commercial topics of Control: Resonant, are you considering adding additional language supports like Arabic or additional localizations?

How do you view localization in general?

JC Gaudechon

We have heard wonderful people in MENA and some of the disappointment that came from not supporting Arabic. Unfortunately, on the dev side, it was a tricky one for us, but we are not forgetting you.

I can't give any promises, but as I said earlier, localization is really important and high quality localization to reach more and new market. We will be looking into it for sure.

Now, I can't say that we will add that to Control: Resonant, but Remedy as a whole is something that we need to solve.

Aapo Kilpinen

Understood. Then a question for Santtu on the cost side.

Will outsourced development costs once again increase when the third new project moves closer to production?

Santtu Kallionpää

Yeah. Outsourced development cost, first of all, they of course depend on the needs of the game projects.

I would say that there are certain things that it's wise to do outsourced as it adds certain flexibility to our kind of internal capacity. At the same time, we have been able to develop our ways of working so that we can do more in-house.

I would say that we are not expecting any significant increases in the external development costs.

Aapo Kilpinen

Yeah. Very good.

Then a bit more general question on the shareholders' side. Is there something you want to comment on Heikki Herlin's company Mariatorp acquiring a large share of Remedy's shares?

JC Gaudechon

This is a question for shareholders, but what I can say is that I'm actually very happy to welcome a long-term investor like Heikki Herlin fund, and I think it's only good news for the strength of our cap table overall, shareholder, and it's someone that can bring a lot, I think, to Remedy.

Aapo Kilpinen

Excellent. There's a lot of questions concerning Max Payne.

On that game, Rockstar Games is handling the publishing side, we cannot comment on those questions. Otherwise, we're out of questions, thank you, gentlemen, for the great answers.

Thank you for the questions. If there is any questions you did not have the chance to ask, feel free to send those over at the email address visible now on the screen.

We'll be back with the next earnings webcast with our business review for the third quarter of 2026 on November the 3rd, 2026. Until then, bye-bye from us.