Microsoft owns publishing rights to Alan Wake and Quantum Break IP, explaining the lack of sequels despite Remedy's willingness

It’s hard to have a conversation about Xbox and sequels without mentioning Alan Wake and Quantum Break. These two Remedy Entertainment titles found a lot of love within the Xbox community but just couldn’t quite gain the widespread popularity or commercial success to warrant sequels. Remedy has stated in the past that they’d be willing to jump back into Alan Wake, and this begged the question, “well why haven’t they?” Turns out, Microsoft owns the publishing rights to both series, despite Remedy owning the Alan Wake IP itself.

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz (via Windows Central) regarding the studio’s upcoming title, Control, CEO Tero Virtala discussed the complications of continuing both series.

“Considering our history… Alan Wake was really interesting but it was a collaboration with Microsoft,” he said. “Due to certain reasons, it never got a sequel. Quantum Break, also, we put a lot of effort into creating the world, the characters, the stories, but still it was Microsoft IP. They decided not to take it further. If we owned the IP, it’s fully in our hands to decide how we create it, how we develop, what are the creative decisions that we take? And then maybe one day in the future, if it proves to be successful, it’s again in our hands to decide what will be done. That was important for us.”

This comes just a month after Control game director Mikael Kasurinen stated that everyone at Remedy loves Alan Wake and wants to see a new game.

It’s unfortunate to see so much potential seemingly go to waste, but who knows what the future holds. By purchasing 5 new game studios recently, Microsoft has shown its commitment to 1st-party experiences going forward.