Create video games: a dream for many, a luxury for a few. The guys from Remedy Entertainment that since the distant eighteenth of August 95 have dreamed and made millions of players dream all over the world. The headquarters of this company was built twenty-three years ago in Espoo, in Finland and has never moved from there. Many have been the successes of this extraordinary group: from the beginning in which he worked as a consultant for other production companies to become the first real Finnish development studio to produce and market its own titles; with Death Rally, which had a troubled development, the group found itself in its hands what would become a classic of the most exciting crash races ever. In 1997, the group even worked on a benchmarking tool, or a calculation system that allows you to measure different types of actions in the computer field: in that case it was a program that measured the performance of other programs useful for video game development. The group thus came to the fore in the videogame field and beyond, to the point that a not just home, the then Lucas Arts, sued Remedy, accusing her of copying their logo:
The change, the pain, the bullet, the awakening
However, the company decided to change the logo as for them he no longer represented the company, and in 1999 presented the world with a new logo theme "Question mark". Not even to do it on purpose, here comes on the world market, a title that would have made the history of the video game: Max Payne, although before being called that it had several names and some of them were registered paying the beauty of $ 20,000 (twenty thousand). For the development of this monumental title, the then director of works Petri Järvilehto demanded that the system defined bullet-time and the technique of slow-motion were the key cornerstones of the gameplay and decided to entrust it to the player as a resource to be spent at his own risk; thanks to their experience in the field of programming, Remedy created its own graphics engine to run the game: the elements that were inserted into the game, they were taken with both hands by films that have a crime fiction or noir mold. The group also wanted to insert photorealistic graphics, a thought that was strongly hampered by the artistic team, who however became convinced that similar graphics were essential to tell a story as full of details as Max's. Thousands of evidence, descriptive elements and photographs were collected with the help of New York Police Department who provided the group with advice never seen before in the field of gaming. Finally, after two postponements and a lot of waiting, Max Payne showed the world how an action game could tell an original story full of pathos: the title it sold over seven million copies, a record still today for its genre.
Left without funds to produce a console version of the game, Rockstar Games bought the title rights for $ 10 million and after a success also on consoles, it was left in the hands of Remedy the development of the second chapter of the saga. Although the second chapter met with insane critical acclaim, it sold little in stores; Remedy was not directly involved in the development of the third chapter but lent its advice to Rockstar Games for the completion of the work. When a door is closed, a door opens and a new success is about to appear on the track of destiny Remedy Entertainment who, thanks to the partnership with Microsoft and the decision to diversify its portfolio, decided to work on an ambitious project: inspired by the series Twin Peaks and with more than one quote attributable to Thrill King Stephen King, the group came up with that pearl we know as Alan Wake. The title sold together with a small spin off developed only for the Xbox online market over four and a half million copies. Microsoft was not however interested in developing Alan Wake 2 but continued to actively work with Remedy for another project.
Quantum Break it was a title that was able to combine the "stra" with the "ordinary", resulting in the best-selling title in the history of Microsoft Xbox One since its release. After the project, the team devoted themselves to several successes for mobile, a fast growing market that brought them several very large proceeds. Coming soon (precisely on August 27 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC) there is Control, a title that expands the universe of Quantum Break and that will probably be the umpteenth videogame success of this "end generation".
Philosophically, Remedy Entertainment has always preferred an approach that involves the general public, with a strong, charismatic main character and with the appeal of a true absolute protagonist. The team has always worked so that the player felt immersed in a living world, capable of making him the protagonist of the adventure. Dreams, as I said at the beginning of this adventure between the historian and the narrated, are ephemeral but powerful elements as much as the people who imagine them. The presence in the modern landscape of a production house that is over twenty years old is a clear sign of how, if you work under a guide who knows what he is doing, you can overcome even the hardest obstacles, and although Remedy is not she was immune to the low blows of the market and she always knew how to react like one of her characters: gritting her teeth and getting up.
The last blow was like the exclamation point at the end of what had happened. I loosened my grip on the trigger. It was all over.
Max Payne
