Summary
- Control 2's budget of €50 million is smaller than Alan Wake 2, but still more than most AAA title budgets.
- Quality is not determined by budget; a smaller budget doesn't mean a subpar game.
- A lower budget for Control 2 may lead to lower pricing, making it more accessible to players.
Continuing the story of Jesse Faden and the Oldest House, Control 2 is poised to be Remedy Entertainment's next major single-player title in the Remedy Connected Universe, after Alan Wake 2. However, to many players' surprise, it was revealed in a recent interview that Control 2's development cost has a budget of €50 million (around $57 million USD), which is much smaller than Alan Wake 2, which required a whopping €70 million (around $79 million USD) to develop. Due to the step back in production value, some are concerned that the project will have a corresponding drop in quality. However, considering Remedy Entertainment's track record, it might be wise to give the studio the benefit of the doubt.
Remedy's decision to step back on expenditure is more than understandable, as Alan Wake 2 has only recouped its initial development cost 15 months post-release, despite critical acclaim. With Control 2, Remedy hopes that the relatively smaller budget will allow the game to become profitable sooner rather than later. Even so, it is not a "safe" game by any means, as Remedy has confirmed that Control 2 will have a slight genre shift, a risky move that could spell disaster if existing fans of Control aren't happy with the change.
Control 2 Could Tie the Remedy Connected Universe Together With One Character as Its Villain
Control 2 is expected to take the overarching narrative of the Remedy Connected Universe to the next level, and one villain could help it do so.
Control 2's Smaller Budget is a Relative Term
€50 Million is Still More Than Most AAA Title Budgets
The idea that Control 2's proposed budget is in any way "small" is a misunderstanding. It's smaller, of course, but only in relation to how much it cost to develop Alan Wake 2, which is an outlier for Remedy and in the industry at large. Most modern AAA titles’ development costs don't come anywhere close. In fact, the current industry standard is a cost of around $30-45 million for an AAA title. There are, of course, exceptions, such as Horizon Forbidden West, which cost $212 million, but these are called exceptions for a reason. They are not the rule.
Quality is not Dictated by Budget
Control 2's budget is not an indicator that it will be a subpar game. It has been proven time and again that how much a game costs is not a deciding factor for success. A great example is Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, which had a budget of only $41 million and still ended up being one of the most successful titles of 2025, recouping its entire development cost within days. Even the first Control game only cost €30 million, and if Control 2 is anywhere close to its level of polish, it will be more than enough.
A big reason why Alan Wake 2 took so long to make and cost as much as it did was because of its experimental nature. According to Remedy itself, Alan Wake 2 was Sam Lake's dream game, one that he had been hoping to make since the first Alan Wake but couldn't find the budget for. Control (2019) is a better representation of how Remedy utilizes its resources while balancing gameplay and profitability. With €20 million extra cash in its bank for Control 2, there is no reason to think it will be anything short of spectacular.
Lower Budget Means Lower Pricing
Control 2 is being developed in the same engine as Control (2019) and Alan Wake 2, Remedy Entertainment’s Northlight Engine. As a happy consequence, it is more than likely that the developers can reuse assets like character models, architecture, and maybe even the destructible environments from Control to Control 2 without issue. Naturally, this will cut down on time and cost, allowing the money to be spent on expanding other aspects of the game.
With continued talk of increasing base game pricing across the board, the only realistic way Remedy Entertainment can keep the price of Control 2 down to acceptable levels is by lowering its budget. Higher development costs mean higher pricing, and the players bear the cost. For fans eager for the next title in the RCU (Remedy Connected Universe) to be within their price range, this is excellent news. A smaller budget will (hopefully) mean a cheaper box price, which is something worth celebrating.
- Released
- 2025
- Developer(s)
- Remedy Entertainment
- Publisher(s)
- Remedy Entertainment, 505 Games
WHERE TO PLAY
Remedy Entertainment has signed an agreement with 505 Games to co-develop and co-publish Control 2 (formerly known as Codename Heron), a sequel to Remedy’s award-winning game Control.
