Tencent has inked a global development, license, and distribution agreement with Remedy Entertainment, the studio behind Control and Alan Wake, for a new cooperative multiplayer game currently called Vanguard.
Vanguard is a “free-to-play, co-operative PvE shooter that combines Remedy’s narrative expertise and action gameplay into an immersive multiplayer experience,” according to Remedy. It’s not to be confused with Call of Duty: Vanguard.
The game will be developed for both PC and consoles using the Unreal Engine, and although Remedy will develop and publish the game for the majority of the world, Tencent will localize Vanguard for “certain Asian markets” and will cover any relevant localization costs.
Vanguard is now in the “proof-of-concept phase,” with a “production budget in the region of a normal Remedy AAA game budget up to the first year of live operations.”
Vanguard’s development will be co-financed by Remedy and Tencent, with each firm liable for publication and game operation costs in their respective areas. After the development expenditures have been recouped, each company will split a piece of the revenue.
Remedy has awarded Tencent the worldwide rights to both develop and publish a mobile version of Vanguard, in addition to the PC and console versions. Tencent will fund the initiative, and the firms have “decided on a separate share system for the mobile version,” according to the press release.
This announcement comes after Tencent said in May 2021 that it had purchased a 3.8 percent interest in Remedy, or 500,000 shares. Back then, there was no game announcement, but that has since changed.
“Vanguard marks Remedy’s first entry into Games-as-a-Service business model, executed by our top tier team of free-to-play experts,” Said CEO of Remedy Entertainment Tero Virtala. “We are building something new and exciting for co-operative multiplayer space, on top of Remedy’s strengths. Expanding our capabilities to take on publishing responsibilities is the next step in the development of our company.
“We are excited for this long-term partnership with Tencent and with confidence can say that it is an excellent fit in supporting Vanguard’s ambitious plans. Vanguard is a global opportunity, and Tencent can support Remedy internationally, and lead the operations in Asia and the mobile markets.”
In 2018, Remedy announced the formation of a new team named Vanguard with the objective of “challenging conventions and prototyping and shipping new forms of continuing live multiplayer game experiences,” and it appears that this is the same team that is working on this.
Vanguard joins a long list of Remedy projects in development, including Alan Wake 2, CrossfireX’s campaign, various games set in the Control world, and an unnamed early-stage project.
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