Remedy Entertainment has announced that Tero Virtala, its current CEO, will be stepping down with “immediate effect” after more than nine years in the role. The company’s Board of Directors have appointed Markus Mäki, a founder of the company, as interim CEO while Henri Österlund becomes Chairman of the Board.
Virtala will remain at Remedy while the search for a new CEO begins. As for Mäki, he previously served as Board Chairman and is also part of the “core management team,” handling production. He stated, “I want to thank Tero Virtala for his substantial contribution to the management of Remedy since 2016. I personally thank Tero for good cooperation and wish him all the best for the future.”
While the decision for Virtala to step down was mutual, one has to wonder about the impact of FBC: Firebreak’s underwhelming sales. The co-op shooter had a €30 million budget and launched to mixed reviews. Though it crossed one million players in its first week, which Remedy called a “technical” success, the publisher was “unsatisfied” with sales.
It released several patches over the next few months, leading up to the first content update, Breakpoint. Unfortunately, this also failed to have a significant impact on sales, leading to the company lowering its long-term sales forecast. Neither the Board nor Virtala confirmed if this was the case, but at the very least, it shouldn’t affect production on titles like Control 2 and Max Payne 1 and 2 Remake.
