Remedy CEO Ousted After Multiplayer Gamble Goes Bust
You don't need to be psychic like Jesse Faden to see the writing on the wall here. Barely two weeks after Remedy admitted their big multiplayer swing, FBC: Firebreak, missed the mark financially, CEO Tero Virtala is suddenly out of a job.
The official line is that Virtala and the board "mutually agreed" he'd step down "with immediate effect". Sure. "Mutually agreed" often translates to "pack your shit" in corporate speak, especially when it follows a massive profit warning just 12 days prior. Virtala had been steering the ship since 2016, overseeing hits like Control and Alan Wake 2, but it seems the disastrous launch of their first big multiplayer venture was a bridge too far.
Remedy co-founder Markus Mäki is stepping in as interim CEO while they hunt for a permanent replacement. Virtala will stick around briefly to help with the handover, which is corporate nice-speak for "show the new guy where the coffee machine is".
The Firebreak Fiasco
Let's not mince words: FBC: Firebreak seems to be the smoking gun here. The PvE shooter, set in the usually brilliant Control universe, was meant to be Remedy's entry into the lucrative multiplayer market. Instead, it landed with a thud back in June.
While they boasted over a million players initially, most were just sampling it via Game Pass and PlayStation Plus. Actual sales? Apparently abysmal. The recent profit warning slashed Remedy's outlook, predicting a €14.9 million hit and turning expected profit growth into a loss.
Looking at the Steam player counts tells a grim story. After peaking at a modest 2,000 concurrent players at launch, the game has cratered. In the past week, it hasn't even managed to scrape together 50 concurrent players. Ouch.
Recipe for Disaster?
Why did it fail so hard? While Remedy committed to improvements based on feedback, some players saw the writing on the wall early. As one commenter on Reddit pointed out, launching a content-bare, buggy game straight onto subscription services with almost zero onboarding, all while seemingly chasing the elusive "next Fortnite," was a risky bet that clearly didn't pay off.
It feels like another case of a studio known for stellar single-player experiences getting lured by the live-service siren song, only to crash on the rocks. Remedy excels at weird, narrative-driven action games. Maybe, just maybe, they should stick to what they're good at.
This sudden departure at the top signals major turbulence. It's a stark reminder that even beloved studios aren't immune to the fallout from a high-profile flop, especially when they stray too far from their proven strengths. Hopefully, interim CEO Mäki can steady the ship and refocus on the weird shit that still reigns supreme.