Exclusive interview with Remedy’s new CEO: “Alan Wake and Control should have sold more"

Is he going to bring methods [music] that work for a massive company and crush the soul of a studio like Remedy? Well, it's a pity. I think Alan Wink should have, you know, sold more. Control should have sold more. Like, it's like to me that's one of the first things we need to fix. When I was announced, right, most of people from from the industry and close friends, etc. And they all send me a message and I said that to the studio on my first talk, they all told me and say like, JC, that's awesome, congrats, etc. And the last line was like, "Don't [ __ ] it up." [music] Hello and welcome to the game business show with me, Christopher Dink. We have a bit of a world first interview for you here. Back in March, Remedy announced its new CEO, Jean Charles Gdashon. His appointment caused some concern. Remedy is known for strong AAA narrative-driven games like Alan Wake Control and Max Payne. But GDashon, although he has done many different things in his career, he has spent much of his recent years on live service products and sports apps. He's worked on things like Eve Online and FIFA Mobile and Battlefield Heroes.

He spent over 11 years working at Electronic Arts. These are very different games than what Remedy is known for. Remedy's efforts to make an online shooter last year, FBC Fire Break, was a rare critical miss for the developer and was also a commercial disappointment. But even so, Remedy's games have never been that successful commercially. Certainly not as successful as they have been critically. It took over a year for the acclaimed 2023 horror game Alan Wake 2 to turn a profit. So, does the appointment of God represent a remedy that's about to shift away from the type of games that made it famous? Now, I was personally not so sure that that would make much sense, but clearly there was questions to ask around Remedy's future. What is God planning to do with Remedy? What lessons did it learn from FPC Firebreak? And how is it approaching Control Resonant, its upcoming singleplayer game, which is self-publishing in what is shaping up to be one of the most competitive years for video games we've seen in a long time. Now, Remedy released its Q1 results earlier this month. And the day after, I was invited to speak with Jean Charles

Gashon to ask him all of those questions and more. Check it out. Hello, Jean Charles uh JC as I think you like to be called. How are you? Have you How have you settled into remedy? Uh I am well nice to meet you Chris. Very happy to be here and uh yes I'm you know from Espo office right now and uh you know with Finland. It's been amazing so far. It's been a pretty short journey of two months which in the end feels already like a lifetime of goodness. So super excited to to be here. I'm interested has anything surprised you about remedy? They're quite an interesting company. Was there anything that you've come into and gone well that's that was unexpected?
A lot actually. Quite a bit. quite a bit as in you know uh as a studio you always have your own opinions. I've always been a big fan of remedy that said um so like anyone else right I was like this is how they work and probably this is how they they approach this problem and that type of stuff and yes there's been some surprises some things I thought they

were excellent at and I think you feel now that it could be quite a bit better and sometimes completely the opposite uh so yeah know some things surprised me but mostly you know it's been an awesome ride so far really I did notice there was a lot of focus put on your experience in sports WhatsApps and live service products and Asian markets and I guess some fans they get concerned about what that might mean for remedy but also you know you've worked in software engineering you've worked in production you've got experience in so many different places a very varied background what do you think you're you're going to be bringing to the remedy equation so yeah I mean first on the announcement you're right I think you know what what came through was not as much as me as a game maker you know as you know kind of a software engineer minded and also been a producer and it's been what almost 20 years of of making games. So I think that's mostly also what I've been why I've been chosen in into that role and then you're right they've also you know dabbled with adjacent industry stuff

mostly around football because you know I spent quite a bit of time on FIFA so you know uh some companies were interested in getting that experience so there was that and for the record I've never done any betting before uh and and you know but but yeah but there was there was good questions and I'm just going to hit that and tell you after about you know what I I hope I can bring to the company. You know, there's been a lot of e, right? What does it mean to have an e exec or someone that you know has been spending so much time at the end? I completely understand at least the fear meaning this like okay is it going to bring methods that work for a massive company and crush the soul of a studio like remedy and I think you know this is stuff I couldn't explain at the start but I think I got chosen also because I know exactly what remedy is and I think what you know needs to be protected needs to be supported kind of needs to be grown etc. So, so you know, I think it's a good segway on the stuff, you know, I can bring to Remedy next. So, I think, you know, Remedy is very

unique. It's a one of a kind. You know, it's a studio that has, you know, amazing creative drive. It's a studio that also has been, you know, messy here or there. And that's the beauty of, you know, the type of games that were made and how, etc. I think, you know, to me, what I I hope I can bring to remedy is vision. vision, you know, from where the studio, where the company could go, where we could do some improvements both on, you know, how we we build our game, how we make our games, how, you know, yesterday there was the first my first turning school and I was talking about thinking more into franchises. I think we're, you know, making amazing products, but as franchises, you know, control that way, it's how I can give a lot more. So I think there's like a vision on thinking maybe a bit bigger for some of these IPs which are incredible which I think need to find its audience you know kind of much much uh further than than even the current audience. So again don't want to be too long but you know I can go on and on with that but you know it's super exciting. I think I can bring you know

that that structure support you know vision and yeah hopefully give ways for the studio to to shine in the future. One of the things I've learned doing this show is that it's a creative industry. And if you've got creators in your company that make a certain type of game and certain types of experiences, you can't just put someone in and go, "Right, you're now going to make the opposite type of game. You're now going to start making mobile hyper casual titles. That's not going to work." And and I so when people when I saw some of the concerns, I thought, well, that'd be quite that wouldn't be remedy at all. You might as well start a new company or go work somewhere else. I mean and just on that real quick, you know, it's like who am I? Who are we to change the DNA of a 30-y old like successful studio game studio? So I completely agree there. I mean your press announcement said you are looking this is going this is before your financials last night but um the press announcement said you are looking to scale remedy to bring lasting value which is a lovely shareholder sentence but is what does what does that what does that mean? You know, I I think

what I've what I try to say there and as you said, it's just a very short and probably more market facing, you're right, uh statement, but you know what I meant by value there is and I think I explained a bit more yesterday on the earnings call is, you know, the value of the IPS, the value of the studio and really kind of, you know, that culture being kind of everything that goes into these games, the way we approach games, the IPs that, you know, have been made so far in the studio, you know, again should be invested been much more than they've been. That's the value. I'm talking about the value of a franchise which means that you know they can shine a lot more than what they've been. They can be a lot more global in their approach. Uh um and that's remember also that the studio is going into a self-publishing era now for at least part of its games. And to me that's more the value I was talking about here. I think it was even probably felt like life service value or going into like you know to your point mobile and that type of stuff. Uh that's absolutely not that it's actually to me even more

doubling down on our core strength on our core IPs and I was pretty clear also yesterday saying on you know first player narrative experiences which this studio is amazing at and we should actually be cautious of not going too far from that core experience. You don't change as you said before the DN of a studio overnight or actually ever to be very honest. So you need to be extremely cautious when you try to you know uh um u go into new market segments or feel that it's the right way to you know be more uh you know uh better financially you'll make more revenue as simple as that. Uh I I I strongly feel that you need to make more revenue on your core strength on your core IPs. There's nothing more difficult than just trying to go after, you know, new segments and that type of stuff. So
that's really what I think.
Well, let's talk about the self-publishing thing. I was going to talk about a bit later that I think this is potentially exciting because um

Remedy's games are frequently brilliant. Alan Wait 2 is one of the greatest games of the generation, but they often take a while to deliver profit and royalties. Um basically the sales don't always reflect the the critical reaction um or even the fan reaction. there's such a core loyal base to those to those games. Do you think shifting into self-publishing can help you unlock stuff that perhaps you couldn't do before?
Yes, I think so. And personally, you know, and it's easy to judge things in hindsight. I always say that I always say that to the teams, etc. as I'm coming in fresh and new and looking at at at all of this. But yes, though, absolutely. I think no one can really position and talk about our games as well as us especially that Remedy makes pretty unique and you know special games again and I wouldn't say that it was not understood by publishers before. No, we had great you know partners in the past but I think that we couldn't really have as much of a unique voice on the publishing front as we have in our games

and self-publishing is opening the door for us to to do that. The example that I always think about is IO Interactive who, you know, they were part of Square Enix and they had Hitman was a popular series. Then when they took it themselves and they went independent and they moved to self-publishing, it became huge and and it was because they could get a lot closer to that community and they and they have adopted this quite unique single player as a service model. I actually don't know why there aren't more of those where they continually update the game and how much there I don't know 80 million players, 27 million sales. And I sort of look at that as a bit of a template. When when I was talking to um some people on your team before, I always go I just think there's a there's a very different games Hitman to Animal. So it wouldn't you couldn't just copy it. But I just feel that that that's a great example, I think, of someone that took a franchise and made it a really big franchise through doing it themselves and taking that in-house and controlling it.
Correct.
Pun. Um the um uh I don't really have a

point to that, but I just I felt that there's a there's a similarity there. Basically, IO took modern business models and bent it to fit their games rather than taking their games and bending it to fit new business models. I thought that was interesting. Anyway,
and and I think, you know, it's it's actually you said it a lot better than I did, but that's really the thinking. I think that's really kind of to me and actually going self-publishing was a big uh part of me also accepting that job because I think this is something that will you know push remedy into a new era of again being able to speak about the games the way they the way we can make more dollar per copy and you know and also get us into a a a financial place where it gives us even more of that creative freedom. Right? Unfortunately, you don't get that creative freedom if you don't have the level of revenue that that that it requires. So, it's exactly that and me talking to, you know, the the the team here now at remedy. These are the discussions we're having while this actually did the execution that you know is happening for control resonant

and hopefully a lot more products after that. Yes, that's exactly the thinking. You mentioned international expansion there. You've got a lot of firsthand experience in Asian markets and China and places like that. Do do remedies games fit with the sort of those territories, the players in those territories?
Well, first it's tough to, you know, generalize on any any region countries and Asia especially is a complicated one is a complex one. But you know if you take control resonant you know being an action melee action RPG I think yes and maybe more than other offerings potentially right uh maybe that's the first one and that can break through even more in some of these regions in Asia in particular yes I think you know if you take Alan Wake maybe maybe not right that actually I do think that heavy first player narrative products or heavy narrative first player you know can can very much uh um

resonate.
I think Resident Evil did quite well in China this time around actually. Yeah.
Yeah, that's very true, you know, and and uh and yeah, so to me, I think no, we we we shouldn't really see that as limiting. I think the quality of the product more than sometimes even the genre and how and the you know and what you're trying to say and the and the quality of game play and I think there's a lot of this will turn your game into a global success and having the right you know uh publishing and commercial strategy sure but at the end of the day it's about the quality of your game I think and you will realize that you know you've been working really well or selling really well across the world um you know we see games now doing really well in China, no one could have maybe, you know, have seen.
That's true.
Again, we want to make a game that, you know, is first and foremost excellent and then push it as far as we can.
Yeah. So, going more global is is obviously you're not the only publisher that's that's pushing that direction and and taking that. There's a lot of talk about other platforms as well. And I'm not see mobile is sort of in there, but

really I think it's things like PC taking the opportunity there. Maybe streaming, Switch 2 is coming up quite a bit at the moment. Obviously I'm not suggesting you're going to start making casual mobile games but I mean are you is there a as well as a geographic expansion of the franchises a thoughts around platform expansion?
Uh yes I mean same approach on reaching as many players as we can now it's something very clear for us for remedy is that has to be you know uh um pillars of our strategy. Um so yes it also goes you know uh after it's the most localized game ever. I think I've mentioned that before. It's also, you know, a game that will be on consoles and on Steam day one, which is also awesome today to be able to reach, you know, more PC gamers. So, yeah, we want to be, you know, uh, on as many platforms as we can.
One of the things I I liked is you you talked about focus quite a lot in your financial presentation that we see. Um, and I think you mentioned self-publishing as part of that focus,

building lasting franchises, making bold singleplayer games. I also picked up the commercial discipline as sort of one of those focuses. But what I've learned about focus down the years is well I'm quoting Nexxon CEO Owen Mahoney here. Um focus isn't just about saying yes to a couple of things. It's about what you're not going to do. It's about saying no to a whole lot of things. Um what are you saying no to? What isn't remedy going to focus on to flip the question?
Yeah. No, and I think I I've said that yesterday actually during the the runings. You're right. And I actually said you know I think remedy will be defined even more by the stuff we don't do right over actually the things that we keep doing. So the the you know the things that we shouldn't do by going after right away is you know a mobile game today is a free-to-play mobile game today. This is not something that you know makes sense for remedy today and may never make sense for remedy any time. something the way I explained it

yesterday was more like you know having the the building on our kawaii piece. So if as an example Sam comes to me right and says hey got that super cool idea around you know Alan Wake we could do this on mobile as an example right then cool we'll we'll speak about it you know we'll think about it because that actually builds on one of our core IPs and our core strength and we're not just trying to go after a market segment that doesn't make sense you don't try to go after business and turn that back into making a game to me I I think that never worked that shouldn't work or at least for especially not for a studio studio like Remedy. So to me it's everything that goes far from our current strength today and I'll say it again. It's narrative single player some other awesome IPs that been created. By the way I want to say something here real quick for Remy. It's insane how this studio was able to create kind of not one lightning in a bottle but two and three with Max Spain. Right. So that's that three major I keys that didn't exist before that you know have been

created in the studio. Uh um so that's that's just that just incredible and that's what I mean by a core strength that kind of pure creativity innovation and also tech that's with North Sliden in general. It's it's a very you know a lot of people here come from the demo scene way back when people that are extremely technical and that's also why they're that good you know at at at making these games come together. That's the strength of remedy. And these are the stuff which we should not betray by trying to go into, you know, the next thing that would make sense or we think would make money. That's what I mean by that.
Interesting. The trend in the games industry I think today is actually there is no don't there is no one trend. Don't don't follow a trend. If there's one piece of advice that gives people don't follow a trend and I think that is the trend and really you know I I completely agree with you. The strength of remedy is in remedies games. I think the game should be more successful than they are and I think there is I think there's

opportunity there and that's a challenge for I guess for you to unlock but in terms of who remedy is they've got a distinct voice a distinct style of game and that's what that's what works in this industry you know from software is successful because of what they are
exactly
and they just they managed to break out and I just I'd love to see a bit I think control was a pretty decent hit but I still think it could have been bigger so I I go Chris that's exactly the the picture I'm trying to paint at the moment and trying to see that we can go after, you know, these and it's interesting you see about that unique voice and something I've been hitting quite a bit already over the the the past few months and and yesterday during the earnings call is really that that unique singular voice that style where people you know when people saw the the the control resonant trailer they're like remedy is back that's a thing that came back a lot because that film remedy very strongly remedy has a signature and and And and by the way, in years to come, uh you know, I think there's going to be more and more products. We know

there's going to be more and more maybe vanilla products or just trying to make quick money, etc. How do you really differentiate yourself? How do you you know buy your creative voice and actually saying and standing for something that is unique to you that you know represents you that is an image of remedy and and to me that's remedy has made the hardest part that's behind us of doing all this of of standing for something of having a strong message in our in our case right you even look at the trailer now I'm getting all excited and passionate but you know um of of contour isn't it again right and from the first images I Look at honestly people in the room looking at it or feedback on YouTube from people and honestly to tell you you're like you don't know what's going on for the for the for the few minutes. So like that's to me that's awesome and that doesn't happen that often anymore. You know I touched on that again yesterday and go on on the whole creative under pressure in gaming.
Yeah. Well and you know got me wrong I'm

a business journalist. I actually spoke to Sam last year and I said when I spoke to him about Alan Wake too, I was like there is not a single business brain part of my brain that thinks that game may have made sense. Like what what what were you thinking? But actually I've learned over the last year of the video game industry actually is sometimes it's the stuff that doesn't make sense that you know I wouldn't have put Dispatch selling 5 million copies. I wouldn't have said exhibition 33 would sell 8 million copies and sometimes there isn't really an algorithm that will tell you what can connect. I'm conscious I'm waffling on a little bit. Um but I'm interested because obviously the thing is the the thing where I think the concerns around remedy sort of came around from FBC fire um last year um because it it didn't do as well on any level that remedy is used to doing whether it's critically or or commercially. What are the lessons that's that's been taken away from that? Well, I think you know focusing on core strength is one obviously, but at the same time, you know, you're right to say this was a lot of great learnings for

the team. Okay. And I think you know I spent a lot of past two months trying to understand how the sausage is made and how you know things were made and how this come together and and also you know what worked what didn't on a project like uh PC fire break there's been learnings at at you know development level how the how the kind of concept came together how the project came together the reasons behind the team how it was supported throughout the studio uh there's so many things that can go right or wrong around you know a product from birth to all the way to being live Um, we're super proud of of of the dev team and what they've done, you know, and and and they they they really uh, you know, pushed really hard and, you know, the conditions are not always the best to to make games. Let's let's put it that way. After whether it's, you know, the success it should or should have been, well, there's a lot of things that, you know, come into play. Once again, it's also the first that was self-published which was at a smaller scale than what you know cultural resonant will be. But there was some learnings there too for the company for for many to understand how you

how you go through that process, how you position this game, how you manage community, etc., etc.
Well, yeah. I think this is the this is the going back to when Owen Mahoney was on our show and he talked about different elements of the games industry and you'll know this better than anyone who's worked across so many different types of products. Building a live service game requires a discipline and a multi online multiplayer game and marketing approaches and stuff that it's almost you almost need a different skill set. It's completely different to an Alan Wake, right? And I'm not saying that there isn't the talent internally to be able to to know those sort of things. But it is quite a shift to go from making those, you know, the Allen wakes and the controls and the Max Pays and the Quantum Brakes of the world.
Correct.
And then doing something that's and no remedy sort of done stuff in that space before for other partners, but um yeah. Um
no, you're you're you're right. And you're right again there was a great thinking put into it. You know, uh again, easy to judge in hindsight. So always be be cautious here and you know when you realize how hard it is to to make a game and especially a successful

one. you know, I have a tremendous respect for for previous management and actually also for the team which is still here doing awesome and you know and and I can only thank this team for having done what they've done. But yeah, you know, it doesn't always work. Uh you're right actually going into a bit of a different genre. That's when you see that the leap is sometimes much bigger than than it looks. I think that's one of the big learnings of course.
Um yeah, it's it's it's pretty much that. I got to talk about Control Resonant because you've mentioned it many times now. It does look pretty special. It did get quite a lot of noise at the the Game Awards last year, but it is launching in and I don't know, it just seems to be Remedy's entire history seems to be launching their big games in one of the most competitive markets for the for AAA titles that I've seen. How mindful are you of of the competition and trying to work out how to find your space?
I see where you're going with this, Chris. I see exactly what's depending on my answers you should be able to

pinpoint. No, I mean uh um you know yes it's it's going to be so it is coming you know out in 2026 as you know that's all I can say for now but you know it is going to be a big year. Some people said last year was a pretty big year too. What's cool about this year I believe and of course about one of the massive game coming out this year. It's around November if it's confirmed.
Not heard of. Not heard of.
Yeah. Not heard of anything. I think it's a quiet month.
Yeah. [laughter]
But but the
November 19th, a good release window. You should go for that.
Yeah, that's Well, that's I can't say anything, but uh No, no. I think it's a year it's going to raise the tide. I think I think the cool thing what I'd like to see there is it's going to uh put the spotlight even more on games than maybe, you know, it was on past years, eta. Um hopefully sell consoles. Hopefully, again, raise the tight for all the players out there. I think it's less about like before, you know, so trying to make your your money back in a few days, but

you know, now you've got multiple ways to actually have a longer term. But yeah, it's the the the time we chose to to get the game out. I think it's going to be uh fun. I think again quality, you can expect quality from us. Uh you can expect a voice that will cut through the noise. So, we're going to try to especially in the self-publishing, you know, kind of uh frame expects us to be as out as we can and and hopefully peak people's interest and players interest, our fan base of of course, but even a bigger bigger crowd out there.
Yeah, I'd actually Allan Wake 2 launched in a month of like Spider-Man 2 and it and Call of Duty was a very competitive month for that. And um I actually said to somebody in in your team, "Why didn't you just push it to February or something?" And they said, "Then we would have been going up against Hell Divers 2 and Power World." There's there's never really Yeah, there's never really a good time. It's uh you just you just have to trust it. And then of course, as you quite rightly point out, it's not all about week one anymore, you know? It's not like even the first Alan

Wakeake obviously went up against Red Dead Redemption and we're going back a long way now.
No, but that's true. and had a tough time as a result of that. But over time, it built an audience. It doesn't all depend on 2026.
No, you're right. You're absolutely right. Um, yeah, but no, I mean, we'll follow then, you know, uh, what makes the most sense for the product, a campaign that makes sense for the product and and, you know, launch with the highest possible quality product. That's really the goal.
And have a creative and unusual marketing campaign, which I suspect you will. Um,
that's the plan. We're not going to play safe is the way we've been trying to discuss it internally.
Um,
you partnered with Anna Pererna and indeed over TV and movie adaptations of Control and Alan Wake. How significant is that an opportunity for you? So to me it it's cross media in that case is is massive because it goes into the the franchise approach I was referring to earlier in our in our talk, right? I think we need to think more and more not just about product after product but how are we approaching our

IPS as a franchise and how do we grow this franchise how do we grow a player base the community you know we haven't talked as enough perhaps about the the community actually supporting our games supporting our studio right I think remedy is one of the few last studios which are and there are others don't get me wrong but that are genuinely supported by uh uh by by by by gamers by players and you know are and just even my announcement was something I loved was people were like protecting Remy the initial thing was like it was like don't break it whatever you do don't you know actually on that note sorry I'm digressing too sec but I should say something very very cool here is when when I was announced right most people from from the industry and close friends etc and they all send me a message and I said that to the studio on my first talk and they they they all told me and say like JC that's awesome congrats etc. And the last line was like, "Don't [ __ ] it up." [laughter]
It's like, "We love Remedy so much.

Don't don't [ __ ] it up."
That show that shows you how much people love Remedy and what's coming out of this studio, etc. So, back to back to that cross media and a pruna. It goes into making our games, our products, our franchises shine much further, reach an audience that doesn't exist today. And that's the way we should think about this, right? It goes back to what you said on well it's a pity. I think Alan Wing should have you know sold more controls should have sold more like it's like to me that's one of the first things we need to fix instead of even trying to make more games to a certain extent. I mean more IPS or it's first also like maximize the potential of the ones we have because they're incredible right I would even go back and say hey Quantum Break was you know yes was received well not well that's not the problem but but it was actually um a strong game a good IP and and something which is like okay every time which seems to reinvent the wheel into new IP

which is insane and this studio is incredible at it but let's also maximize is the one that already resonating with with with players etc. Yeah. And cross media is going to help us do that with an appro
reinvention isn't necessarily about changing franchise like Alan Wake 2 is a full-on horror game and even though I think the original Alan Wake was a horror game as well. It wasn't. It's a different type of is definitely not as horror and obviously Control Resonant is I was expecting your next control game to look like your first control game. So it was um it was and I'm like well I guess that's not the remedy way is it? [laughter] Yeah, you never take the easy path.
That's exactly that. That's exactly that.
You did say you're not going to be using generative AI in your games and I think that makes sense for the type of company remedy is there a very artistic business and you wouldn't want to to you know to get involved that. Do you see sort of AI the role of do you see a role for AI in sort of speeding up your teams improving development pipelines because that's the you you've already talked about your financial discipline and your commercial discipline that you've got around um uh

uh the games Remedy is able to do quite a lot but comparatively not as much money. Is there opportunity there? First, we're going to be super cautious to what you said, right? Remedy makes authored games and really autistic games and you know where the creative imprint is really high. So we are uh being extremely cautious and let's say not embracing AI uh clearly but as you said right um prototyping early development maybe if the team and that's also a very important one if the team feels that in parts of development it can help uh I'm not going to block them from doing so there's absolutely not going to be a top- down mandate you know to say that hey now you should try to speed that up with AI etc. Also I think that and I want to make that clear. My stance on that is AI is not going to make things cheaper and it's not going to make things cheaper for a pretty long time.

People thinking that's like oh we can now make games cheaper with this. I have big question marks around that. Uh and the fact that and what type of games by the way yesterday in the squ with AI and it's you like try to use Genie and and do that. We'll see where where you land. But, you know, so yes, to answer your question, you know, there's there's we've always also be like an R&D studio, right? It's a studio that's always been um uh dabbling with tech stuff. So, I'm not going to block people from doing so. Um but I'm going to be or we're going to be extremely cautious on on that. Never getting anywhere close to creative, anywhere close to userf facing. But again, if it can help development early on, let's say fast prototyping, testing things out. Let's see.
Okay, I'm wary of the time. I know you've you've got to move on, but I'll ask one final question.
I'm okay.
This is quite a general question. What What do you see as Remedy's biggest opportunities? I know we've that's what

the whole this whole interview's been about, but I'd like, you know, just put a bow on it. What do you think are Remedy's biggest opportunities?
I think it's to be a video game author. like it's even never been before and and that's an opportunity in a way that it's already already one of the biggest game authors or like like very strong signature type products over the past 30 years. I think that especially after now seeing it from inside there's so much more we can give you know gamers out there in terms of you know super strong authored creative crazy stories uh uh and games and gameplay right I think that honestly when I see this we haven't achieved you know half of the potential that in terms of the products that we make uh um um so so to me it it goes back to making incredible games. I would say probably incredible franchises as I said because I would like to also see more coming out

of these franchises and I'll of course have a direct impact on that. Um um and of course the self path because I think and you said it really well better than Iris which is I think it's going to give us a lot more freedom on getting that voice to be heard and also simply having more you know financial power which gives us more creative freedom. I think that's the opportunity that uh that we have in front of us.
Well you probably tell I'm a huge fan of remedy. I think the whole video game industry is. So, I wish you all the luck and I hope control resonant does very well. And I guess the the only thing I've got to say is, you know, don't [ __ ] it up. [laughter] Yeah. No, I absolutely welcome that scrutiny. You know, we're going to have up and downs. I'm going to I'm going to make mistakes. Hopefully, not too many and, you know, get to the goals that we have. So, no, I'm I'm uh I'm fired up and extremely lucky to be a remedy.
Brilliant. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Chris. That's it for today's

episode of the game business show. Thank you to John Charles for his time. I am a big fan of remedies games and as I said in the chat, I do feel that they can be more successful. Hopefully, he can help make that happen. If you enjoyed that, we do these interviews every Tuesday. If you want to make sure you don't miss the next one, head to the game business.com, stick in your email, and you'll receive an alert when it goes live. But that's it from me today. Thank you to my producer, Richard, and thank you for tuning in.
[music]
favorite remedy game. That one actually I'm like I like if he has that I can't answer this. I can't answer this this uh uh so I was actually right. I was doing this and and and now this is this is this this is what happened. Chris they like [laughter] they like just just broke my heart. Uh um Oh my god. If I say that, it's when the team's here.
Okay. You can't you can't pick a child.

Exactly. I can't pick a child.
Yeah. Okay. Uh, best movie of all time.
Oh, okay. Can we do top top three? Top something. You can do top three. In the mood for love, Wawawaii. I don't know if you know that one. Well, there you go. I surprised you on the first one. Interesting. [music] Uh actually the first matrix was uh you know I'm # boomer but if in that case you know I mean there was there was a before and an after to me and I'll put on the third one I [music] will put uh Brad Pit doing a dual personality uh
fight club.
Thank you Fight Club. So that's the third one. For [ __ ] sake I couldn't [music] like Yeah, I would put it's a bit all over the place but I I actually love Fight Club. Yeah. If you could be the CEO of any other company outside of Remedy, what would it be?
Candy Factory. [music]
Candy Factory. Oh, wow. Uh, what's the first thing you do when you get into work in the morning?
Chat with people. [music] I'm just kind

of I need to connect with people.
What one piece of advice would you give to someone in a leadership position in video games today?
Don't follow the trend. [music]