Remedy confirms that Codename Heron is Control 2

Surprising absolutely nobody, Remedy has confirmed that the “bigger budget Control game” formerly known as Codename Heron is indeed Control 2. The developer has signed a co-development and co-publishing agreement (opens in new tab) with 505 Games, sharing the news alongside a piece of concept art. 

“With Control 2, we’ll take another leap into the unknown,” says game director Mikael Kasurinen. “It’ll be an unexpected journey. It’ll take a while, but to put it mildly, this is the most exciting project I’ve ever worked on. It’s still early days, but it will be worth the wait.”

Remedy still owns the IP, but the developer will be sharing the load with 505 Games, splitting the costs of development and marketing, as well as net revenue, equally. Remedy’s going to be handling publishing on PC, while 505 will handle the console launch. 

“Control is the biggest investment 505 Games has ever made,” say Rami and Raffi Galante, co-CEOs of 505 Games (opens in new tab), “so it has a special place in our hearts.”

The pair will be playing with a €50 million budget (just over $51 million), which is around $20 million more than the development budget for the original Control, which was less than $30 million. Where that extra budget will go remains to be seen, however, as Remedy and 505 aren’t giving much away yet, aside from the fact that it’s being built on Remedy’s Northlight engine. It’s still in the concept stage. 

Remedy is going to be pretty busy, as this isn’t the only project it’s working on. Alan Wake 2 is on-track for next year (opens in new tab), and there’s a co-op Control spin-off, currently known as Codename Condor, that’s still being prototyped.