Ladies and gentlemen, dear Remedy investors, welcome to the webcast for Remedy's Q1 business review of 2026. My name is Aapo Kilpinen from Remedy's Investor Relations. Joining with me today are Remedy's new CEO, Jean-Charles Gaudechon , also known as JC, and then our CFO, Santtu Kallionpää . JC will briefly introduce himself and then guide us through the quarter. Santtu will then do a deeper dive on the financials for the quarter. We'll then look at the outlook for the year, and then we'll end with the Q&A session at the end of the webcast. If you have any questions already, leave those at the text bar. Without further ado, JC, please, the stage is yours.
All right. Thank you, Aapo. Hello, everyone. Welcome to Remedy Q1 2026 business review. I guess, I need to start by saying a few words about myself. So let me start with, I think, something that really defines me is, you know, my past as a software engineer. I think, you know, that's really what shapes how I think about games, how I think about running studios, companies like Remedy, and how I approach game development in general. Over the past 25 years, I've had the chance to work on games across many roles, you know, on all platforms really, and across North America, Asia, and Europe, so quite global. You know, that has given me a good overview of our craft, and now I have the immense privilege of bringing that experience to Remedy.
You know, one of the boldest, most original studios in gaming with some of the best talents in the industry, which is excellent. You know what? Remedy has achieved is rare. Over more than three decades, the studio has built a voice unlike any other, supported by a strong and engaged community, which is, you know, extremely rare, as I said, and a great asset now and for the future. More broadly, in our industry today, you know, I think the creative craft is under real pressure. Games with a genuine soul, games that take risks, that have a point of view are getting harder to find. Those are exactly the games that Remedy makes. You know, my mission is not to change what Remedy is.
My mission is to protect and grow that soul, you know, and to help this studio grow without losing what makes it Remedy. All right. Enough of me. Let's go through our business performance together. Q1 2026 was a good start to what I believe is going to be a very exciting and pivotal year for Remedy. Revenue increased, driven by game sales and royalties that nearly doubled for the comparison period. EBITDA came in ahead of the same comp period at EUR 2.9 million, and EBIT was positive at EUR 1 million. Operating cash flow was on a healthy level. Good signals as we, you know, start that year. A good share of that performance is being driven by our back catalog, which continues to find its audience.
That is very encouraging, especially as we are building the self-publishing muscle at Remedy. We have a number of exciting projects in development, but the most immediate focus for Remedy, the one closest to your players' hands, with a 2026 launch is CONTROL Resonant, obviously. Let's cover that. Our goal with CONTROL Resonant is to deliver a great melee action, you know, RPG, a game that honors the Control universe but also expands it, you know, and that players will truly appreciate because in the end, you know, that is what really only matters. We're doing that for players and our fan base. A lot of interest was captured with our December 2025 announcement, and the leading indicators are on track.
Looking ahead, we will ramp up the marketing campaign leading up to release, and we expect the momentum to significantly intensify. We have an ambitious, you know, global campaign and a sizable marketing budget fro execution. The reception has been incredible so far. We're extremely happy about traction. During Q1, we released two new trailers. The first was our gameplay reveal trailer featured in the PlayStation State of Play. As you know, one of the highest profile venues in the industry for a reveal like this one. Putting our gameplay in front of that audience, in front of you all, you know, for the first time, was a very important moment for us and for the game at Remedy. The second was produced with our long-term partner, NVIDIA.
You know, this partnership shines a spotlight on the technical ambition behind CONTROL Resonant. Of course, on our very own, you know, Northlight, our proprietary engine, which is what allows us to push the game's performance and cutting-edge graphics. Extremely important for Remedy games, as you know. Beyond the trailers, we released a developer diary for our community called Beyond the Oldest House. This is the kind of content that really matters, we believe, to our most dedicated fans. Direct access to the people making the game, our dev team, you know, speaking in their own voices, speaking honestly about what they are building.
Remedy's community has always, you know, liked authenticity, and I think that's really, you know, what we've been doing here and what we wanna keep doing. We also hosted an exclusive showcase for media and creators. We had over 70 outlets that attended, generating more than 140 articles and around 2 billion impressions across global media. Which we believe are good numbers at this stage of the campaign, and more importantly, you know, the coverage was not just broad and, you know, just volume, it was also quality. You know, it was positive, which obviously for us is very encouraging and kind of how we wanna land, you know, the product. Outlets like, you know, Edge, Polygon, GAMINGbible, IGN, just to name a few. I don't wanna hurt anyone in the process.
you know, have all come away, you know, from their previews with a clear message, to be clear. This was a hands-off preview. you know, still very encouraging, you know. People really said, this is a Remedy game that takes risks and has its own identity. That's always what we wanna make at Remedy. You'll see that more and more as that's our strategy moving forward. It's very, very important that these games feel Remedy and are more Remedy than ever. There are, of course, fair questions being raised. you know, action RPG is a new genre for Remedy. The press, the fans are right to scrutinize how the gameplay holds up.
We welcome that scrutiny, you know, we are also confident that, you know, as players and press get their hands on the game, they will see kind of how serious we are about earning our place in the action RPG space. I have the chance to play the game daily, and I can tell you that, you know, it's coming very well together. Very happy. All right. Beyond the press, the broader signals heading into launch are healthy. Sentiment among fans and content creators has held up globally, which is great to see. You know, that audience is sizable. The Control universe has been played by close to 20 million people over its lifetime. We are also making a deliberate push beyond our traditional strongholds, you know, the U.S. and Europe.
This time around Asia and Latin America are real priorities for this launch. We have invested in localization at a level we have never done before. You know, our thinking here is simple. Remedy's voice deserves to reach further, and we are giving it the means to do so. All right. Turning over to our games currently in market. Alan Wake 2 became available on Amazon's Luna service during Q1 alongside Alan Wake Remastered, generating a platform deal royalty. The game also continued to perform across other platforms for the quarter and, you know, Santtu will explain a bit more how that impacted Q1 positively. Happy to, you know, very happy to announce that the game has passed a 6 million benchmark in lifetime copies sold. You know, CONTROL retained its solid sales momentum in Q1.
In fact, CONTROL actually sold better than the comparison period driven by promotions and added visibility from CONTROL Resonant, obviously. This is a dynamic we plan for, you know, at attractive price points. CONTROL is a great vehicle for new players to enter the world of CONTROL ahead of the sequel. All right. FBC: Firebreak. The last major update, Open House, was released in March, and the game has moved to maintenance mode after that. The game will remain online, and a Friend's Pass feature was introduced to support the player base. You know, it is very important for us at Remedy to let players enjoy the game for as long as they can and as long as they want. The game remains available on PlayStation Plus, on Xbox Game Pass, sorry, and can be purchased on PC and console platforms.
All right. Our development pipeline has three active projects. CONTROL Resonant, obviously in full production. We already discussed about this one at length. Max Payne 1 & 2 Remake is also in full production in partnership with our beloved partner, Rockstar Games. You know how close to our heart is Max Payne, something that we're, you know, putting a lot of effort on also. We have a new project currently in proof of concept, which unfortunately I cannot tell much more about today. Building on what I shared earlier, three areas where we are sharpening our focus. One, focus on core strengths. Remedy is exceptional at building single-player narrative experiences on core platforms. This is what we do best, we need to double down on that expertise.
We cannot take it for granted, not our craft and certainly not our players. This does not mean we stand still. We will innovate, and we will explore new ways of reaching players when the case is right. Every step beyond our core has to build on what we already do best. Franchise expansion as the second pillar. Today, we tend to think about our games one after another. You know, I want us to evolve that mindset, managing, you know, more franchises. I think our IPs today can really give a lot more than what they already do. We need to think as long-term strategies that let us be bolder, that to connect the dots further within and between our worlds. That is something very important to me for the future of Remedy. Three, self-publishing.
You know, I think this is a unique opportunity to own the whole chain. No one can really speak about Remedy games, you know, better than Remedy. I want our publishing voice to be as unique and distinctive as our games themselves. It's a chance to be heard like never before, and we are not going to play safe. You will see that with the CONTROL Resonant campaign. With that, I will hand over to Santtu to walk you through the Q1 financial results.
All right. Thank you, JC, and good afternoon also on my behalf. Let's start reviewing the financials from the revenue. In Q1 2026, our revenue was EUR 13.1 million, which is 2% lower than in the comparison period. Game sales and royalties almost doubled from the comparison period, being EUR 5 million for the first quarter. This was driven by the royalties from Alan Wake 2, which include also the one-time royalty accrual from the game becoming available in Amazon Luna. Also, Control game sales performed well in Q1 and partly drove the game sales and royalties above previous year. Q1 2026 also includes revenue accruals from FBC: Firebreak subscription service fees, which we didn't have last year, Q1.
Development fees, they decreased from the comparison period, and still made over 1/2 of the total revenue for Q1 2026. Development fees were for the projects Max Payne 1 & 2 Remake and CONTROL Resonant. Revenue was impacted negatively by weak USD rate. With the FX neutral revenue, we would have added growth of 0.2%. Looking at the longer perspective, the share of game sales and royalties of the total revenue has started to increase during 2025. Alan Wake 2 started accruing royalties in the end of 2024. As said, during Q1 2026, CONTROL game sales and sales related to our older game titles were on a higher level than in Q1 2025. FBC: Firebreak started accruing revenue from Q2 2025 onwards.
Development fees have remained roughly on a similar range for the last four quarters, but there has been also variation between the quarters due to the development milestones of CONTROL Resonant and Max Payne 1 & 2 Remake. I'm moving on to profitability. The operating profit in Q1 2026 was EUR 1.0 million positive, being EUR 0.3 million less than in the comparison period. This decrease is mainly due to higher depreciations and investments to self-publishing in Q1 2026. EBITDA improved from the comparison period and was EUR 2.9 million positive. Growth from the comparison period is largely due to the decrease of external development expenses. Let's look the costs in more detail for transparency.
Unnetted external development and personal expenses in total decreased by 11% from EUR 11.5 million in Q1 2025 to EUR 10.3 million in Q1 2026. External work expenses were EUR 1.9 million in Q1 2026, being 44% lower than in the comparison period. This was driven by lower external development needs in the game projects. The unnetted personal expenses were EUR 8.4 million in Q1 2026, increasing by 3% from the comparison period. This growth matches the growth of average number of personnel during the reporting period, which also increased by 3%. The amount of capitalized development expenses at EUR 3 million was on a similar level than in the previous year.
The amount of capitalization is higher than in the previous quarters, mainly due to increased efforts on CONTROL Resonant. In Q1 2026, depreciation expenses in total were EUR 1.9 million, of which EUR 1.2 million were related to game projects. These included Alan Wake 2 and FBC: Firebreak depreciations. Q1 depreciations are on a lower level than in the previous quarter, this is due to the depreciations following the level of game sales of the games which we are depreciating. Currently, a major part of Remedy's intangible assets is from capitalized development costs of CONTROL Resonant. Also, the remaining capitalization of CONTROL's publishing and distribution rights has been mainly allocated to CONTROL Resonant. Once the game is launched later this year, the depreciations related to CONTROL Resonant will start, which will impact the quarterly depreciation levels.
At the end of Q1 2026, our total cash level was EUR 34 million, including EUR 14.4 million in cash and EUR 19.6 million in short-term cash management investments. During Q1 2026, the cash flow from operations was EUR 8.3 million positive. Besides the cash flow from operations, our cash position was affected by a EUR 3.2 million negative cash flow related to investments and EUR 0.3 million negative cash flow from financing. Cash flow from investments, that includes payments related to capitalized development costs and machine acquisitions. Cash flow from financing includes IFRS lease liability payments. The cash position improved in relation to both the comparison period, Q1 2025, as well as to what the situation was at the end of year 2025.
If you look at the cash flow from operations closer, there has been variation in timing of payments from quarter to quarter. Q1 2026 cash flow from operations was EUR 14.9 million higher than in the comparison period. Our outflowing operative payments were 23% higher than in the comparison period. Due to timing of sales payments, we have to, at the same time, receive significantly more inflow in sales payments than a year ago. Timing of development fee payments are agreement-based, and there is difference compared to revenue accruals. Royalty and game sales related payments follow the revenue accruals with delay. In overall, year 2026 started with profitable quarter for us, with both EBIT and EBITDA being positive. This is, of course, ahead of marketing ramp up and related spend, to support the launch of CONTROL Resonant during 2026. Now, JC will continue with outlook.
Thank you, Santtu. All right. Our outlook for 2026 is unchanged. We expect our full year revenue and EBITDA to increase from the previous year. Handing it to Aapo for Q&A.
Thank you, JC. Thank you, Santtu. Let's move on now to the Q&A. I said before, leave any questions you have in the text box below the webcast. We already have a couple good questions in the pipeline, so let's begin with those. JC, the first question is related to you. What are the short-term goals from the new CEO, and will those goals affect how Remedy operates?
Yep, good question. I mean, I've been here for a few months, you know, and I spent a lot of that time listening and getting to understand, you know, people, the studio where we're at. Honestly, the priorities, you know, are very clear. Today it's to execute on CONTROL Resonant. We can have all the strategies in the world, if we don't make an incredible game, what's the point? I think to me today, you know, it's really to give the studio the support, the direction, the inspiration to really in a kind of, you know, get CONTROL Resonant across the finish line in the best possible way. Now, it is, of course, the biggest one, but we have other great games in the pipeline, which also needs and deserves attention and support.
This is, you know, very much the focus right now. The strategy pillars I talked about will surely, you know, get into it, get into that vision, but today let's focus on product execution.
Excellent. Thank you, JC. The next question is on CONTROL Resonant. Can you give more color on the leading indicators that you're tracking on the game?
Unfortunately, right now, we cannot yet. Of course, we're still being, you know, A lot of that is happening behind closed doors. We apologize. I know, you know, both press and players are antsy to hear and learn more about the game. Trust us, it's gonna come. Today I can't say a lot more. What I can say, as I said in presentation, we're happy about, you know, how it's tracking. We're gaining the momentum we wanna gain. We're gaining the traction. You know, the game is landing the right way. The message, what we're hearing back is very much in line with, you know, what was planned. Happy about that. Apologies that I can't go much deeper into details, into numbers. That's what I can say today.
Very good. Next question is on China and broader Asia. Is there a local partner model with a distribution arrangement? How does the economics split compare to core markets?
Good question. You know, I spent quite a bit of time in Asia myself, so, you know, that allows me also to hopefully get a bit better understanding of that region, even though, you know, you can't make any generalities, and it's a daunting market, but also a very attractive one. We're gonna have a local strategy. We're gonna have a local partner. I can't announce any of that just yet or have any more details. You know, there is a strategy around how to approach China specifically. I think for me, what's most important today is how do we position the product to, you know, to be a success with Chinese gamers.
I think, you know, action RPG, is something that resonate well in China. You know, I believe Chinese gamers will appreciate CONTROL Resonant, and we're gonna do everything, you know, on the way to get there. It's tough to say how much, you know, this is gonna play in economics of the game, but what I can tell you is we're gonna push really hard. Also, on the localization front, you know, I touched on it earlier. It's pretty much the biggest localization investment Remedy has ever made.
You know, we're very happy to tell Chinese gamers that the game and, you know, in China, but across the world, Chinese speakers, that the game will be, both, you know, kind of text and audio, localized, which I think will be great.
Super. Thank you. Next question is to Santtu. With CONTROL Resonant nearing completion, how should we think about the development fee trajectory through the rest of 2026?
Yes. The general rule regarding the development fees is that they follow the agreed milestones of the game development and the contracts. And a good assumption regarding, for example, CONTROL Resonant is that the development fees will continue to accrue as long as the development of the game takes.
Excellent. Continuing with the finance question, Santtu, are there still some B2B payments accrued for the coming quarters in relation to FBC: Firebreak?
Yeah. I think we have said earlier that the B2B deal accruals continue as long as the B2B deals regarding the game being in the subscription services continue. It's based on that. We have also said that the major part of the cash flow impact from these activities for FBC: Firebreak, that's already in our balance sheet.
Excellent. Back to JC. I would like to hear more about the social media marketing efforts in China and how big of a share of the CONTROL Resonant sales do you see coming from Asia?
I think I've kind of already answered this one in the last one. Not much more to say that we're gonna be present. We are present, and we're gonna intensify presence, you know, on a Chinese social media and in general, you know, kind of, you know, try to create our voice, getting a share of voice in China.
Very good. Next question on CONTROL Resonant budget. Ahead of CONTROL Resonant launch, does the estimated development budget of approximately EUR 50 million still hold?
You know, this is Santtu looking at me and saying, "Don't say it." You know, it's what I can tell on the budget, you know, is the team has done and the studio has done excellent work to stay on track. Has done excellent work to build a triple-A game on a relatively short or, you know, small budget. That's something we've seen from Remedy before. That's something we'll see again from Remedy because honestly, there's something pretty incredible about the way of being, you know, the games are being built at Remedy, the way they, you know, they're being thought through and managed. It's not as always been the case, I know that.
You know, we've had some hiccups in the past, but I can tell you that the team has done incredible work on CONTROL Resonant.
Very good. Next question is in relation to Remedy's headcount. Remedy's headcount is increasing. This seems to be counter to what is happening in many other game studios. What is the thinking behind the increase?
I mean, good segue from what we just, you know, the previous question. You know, let me answer it by telling you again that the studio has made incredible games on relatively small actually team size and relatively small budget size. You know, I think that happened because, well, it's a studio that has its own engine and has its own, you know, kind of tools and ways of building it, which, you know, I've seen for the past two months, and I understand why they were able to pull it off that way. I think also one thing you can see about Remedy is we're growing too fast too quickly, which you've seen in other parts of the industry, unfortunately.
When you get to that, then that's when you know, take the risk of potentially having to downsize. What I can say today from, you know, the size of the team, the size of Remedy and the games we're making, I think we're pretty much, you know, right sized for it.
Excellent. Next question again on organizational topics. As you've gotten to know the company, do you see areas in Remedy's operating model or organizational structure where changes may be needed?
You know, I think you can always make improvements, and we will make improvements. Yes, I've seen, you know, parts of Remedy which I think can be improved, you know, at many different levels. Today, what's really important is to keep a balance on, you know, what you can improve and when you do, you know, some of these improvements. As I said, right now, you know, the studio is in full execution mode. You need to be cautious with that. You need to give the right support. A lot of it is gradual anyway. Today it's more about protecting, supporting, making sure that, you know, we stay on the right tracks, but not necessarily disrupt any of that.
Yes, there will be, you know, changes here or there, kind of internal cuisine type of thing which will help, I think, the studio, even perform better in the future.
Perfect. Next question is about the new project. Is there any information you can share about it? Will be under the Remedy Connected Universe or will it be a completely new title, a spin-off? Anything that you can communicate at this point.
It's tough, huh? I keep having to say that I can't say much. Unfortunately, no, I can't reveal anything about, you know, about this new project, except that it's gonna be, yet again, an incredible Remedy game.
Very good. Remedy has always been a contender for the Game of the Year in TGA. Is winning Game of the Year with CONTROL Resonant in your playbook?
It always is. You know, this team, and I've seen it now, we know it from before, right? This team is always going for the highest possible quality, you know. I think CONTROL Resonant is not different on that front. We're gonna push hard. I heard that this is gonna be a pretty hard year, but I'm not sure exactly what's coming out this year. You know, there's gonna be competition, but I think we'll be, we'll be out there fighting for it.
Excellent. Would you consider adding a pre-order option for the games you publish?
I can't say much, once again, on CONTROL Resonant specifically. Me personally, I think pre-order is a, you know, a good way to judge, you know, traction, to judge, you know, success of the game ahead of, you know, launch. I think it's a good thing.
Yeah. Super. I think the final question, might there be any collaboration with Epic Games to bring Jesse or Dylan Faden or maybe even Officer Janitor to Fortnite to promote CONTROL Resonant like what was done with Alan Wake 2?
I mean, we're big fans of Crossover. I think we've showed it, you know, in the past. I think, you know, it helps us expand our universe, our worlds, and that's something that, you know, I mentioned in some of the pillars in the presentation just now. This is something we're gonna keep doing because I believe strongly, you know, in our piece, in our worlds, and they should even get deeper and connect the dots more, as I said before. I can't, of course, say anything about whether we do something with Epic or, you know, Epic is a strong and close partner. We're always talking, you know, to our partners about potential opportunities. You know, these are again, you know, great opportunities to look into.
Again, as I said, one filter we will, you know, I think use more and more is it building on a core strength? As I said, that's the first filter, first pillar, sorry. You know, this is gonna be something we do a lot. I think you define the vision of a studio not by just saying, you know, yes, but also saying no, which is, you know, what we don't go after, what, you know, may not really help compound that culture and build on the core strength of Remedy. This is a filter we'll be using moving forward on, you know, the crossover, et cetera. So far, we've been really happy with it.
Very good. One final question came through. In what way do you think the rapid development of AI will impact Remedy's operations, perhaps regarding product price or game development costs?
You're casually dropping an AI question at the end. Excellent. You know, of course, it's a big topic these days. We've had a clear stance as Remedy, you know, with AI. Today we're not using, you know, a generative AI to create any user-facing, you know, content, or in general. I would also say, good luck trying to make Alan Wake 2 with AI. I would love to see that happen, but I think that it's gonna be very, very hard, you know? Today I would say it's a bit of a non-topic. Of course, we need to make sure, you know, this is framed. There is adoption here or there happening, you know, like in gaming in general. You can never really stop someone to tinker with it.
It's really important that we have a clear frame, and it's very important that this does not replace any parts of the creativity coming out, you know, in our games. That's something that to me I'm gonna be fearless about.
Thank you, JC. Very clear. Excellent. Thank you so much for the questions. Excellent questions once again. If there are any additional questions you didn't have the chance to present, feel free to send those over to the email address now visible on the screen. We'll be back next time with our half year financial report. That will be on August 11th. Until then, bye-bye for now.