Personally, I find it baffling that since they clearly knew they wouldn’t make the August window, why didn’t they just change the text in the State of Play to “Autumn 2026” and wait until SGF to lock in the specific release date.
It’s been obvious even to an amateur like me that this State of Play would feature a lot of release dates, so it’s absolutely idiotic to fail to utilize this free information when Remedy clearly has no way of getting even a hint of when others are scheduling their game launches.
What caught my eye in the trailer was that the gameplay was completely hidden; perhaps that’s for the best, as the previous trailer didn’t generate much excitement.
A September release is pure hara-kiri, and in the next interim report and upcoming analyses, we will surely hear claims again about how first-week sales aren’t essential when playing the long game. Covid saved Control, so nothing short of a global Ebola epidemic will save Resonant anymore.
The schedule is already quite crowded, and Microsoft’s big releases are still missing from the list:
03 Sep: The Blood of Dawnwalker
08 Sep: Halloween: The Game
15 Sep: Wolverine
17 Sep: Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter
17 Sep: Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War IV
22 Sep: Dune
24 Sep: Silent Hill Town falls
24 Sep: Control
25 Sep: Onimusha
01 Oct: Dynasty Warriors
01 Oct: Rayman
02 Oct: Ace Combat 8
On the other hand, management now has an opportunity to push the game’s release to next year.
The confirmation of the release date has certainly been received with a bearish sentiment here. In my opinion, one important point is being overlooked: compared to its most notable competitors in the same release window (I believe Wolverine and Onimusha are most clearly chasing the same player audience), Control Resonant costs €10 less. I would argue that such a “discount” matters when players are considering which game to buy right at launch.
Moving to a slightly more positive note, preliminary pre-order data seems to be decent. As I understand it, the rankings are based on revenue rather than number of copies. Pre-orders opened yesterday at the same time for all the games listed below, so they are quite comparable—at least among those in the same release window.
Game
Release date
Base edition, $
Steam Wishlist
Top selling, Steam
Top selling, PS Store, US PS5
Marvel’s Wolverine
15.9.2026
69.99
N/A
N/A
9
Control Resonant
24.9.2026
59.99
40
33
54
Silent Hill: Townfall
24.9.2026
49.99
189
121
134
Onimusha: Way of the Sword
25.9.2026
69.99
25
31
97
Ace Combat 8
2.10.2026
69.99
55
10
47
Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis
12.2.2027
59.99
27
61
77
Let’s see how these evolve. More marketing is likely expected at Summer Games Fest in 3 days. The rankings might not be very accurate yet, as it’s only been 12 hours since pre-orders opened. Ace Combat 8 is pre-selling surprisingly strongly, while Silent Hill, even though it’s a spinoff, is doing surprisingly poorly.
Yes, September is going to be packed. But when you think about it, where is that “good window” to be found when new major competitors are constantly emerging and the old ones aren’t disappearing from the market either? Tomb Raider moved to February, so that’s not a good time either. At some point, you just have to dare to push the game to market and hope for a long tail
Puha mentioned on X that “Hands on impressions are coming quite soon”. In games like this, gameplay is really what’s emphasized, and if they nail that, this will turn out well.
Additionally, Puha also mentions “The most important thing is to launch a great polished game. Instead of launching too early, I’m sure we all agree on that. We also took great consideration with the pricing of the game. Trying to ensure we launch in the best possible way.”
You can’t really ask for more than that, though there are certainly many ways to achieve it.
And looking through Remedy-tinted glasses, it’s also positive that Wolverine is a PlayStation exclusive, so it won’t completely suck the air out of those release weeks across all platforms.
I’m not surprised by the Silent Hill sales; a Japanese horror genre spinoff from a Western team. As a brand, Silent Hill was still quite dead before the 2 Remake and f. Additionally, Silent Hill: The Short Message, released alongside these, seemed to receive a rather critical reception.
Ace Combat has a dedicated fanbase, so it’s worth following the development of its pre-orders over a longer period to see if it appeals to new players as well. Then again, the same applies somewhat to Remedy too.
The small-scale hype around Onimusha is a bit surprising, as I recall those games being something like the “little brothers” of Resident Evil on PS2, with sales declining with each installment. It will certainly get a lot of attention in the wake of Capcom’s “new wave of success” and will succeed commercially, but I don’t see it as a Resident Evil-level competitor for Control Resonant. However, it is the toughest competitor of that week.
I agree with the above that it would have been amazing to get the release date in August, but we must remember that Control doesn’t compete with every single game, and conversely, all other game releases don’t automatically take players/buyers away from Control. Still, it’s good to recognize that the release window is crowded, as is typical for Remedy. If the Day 1 sales and that couple-of-month window before the GTA release don’t generate a strong enough sales curve, there’s a risk that GTA will steal all the attention and everyone’s money for the rest of the year, pushing sales into 2027 and beyond. Still, I’m not that worried about this setup—this is Remedy’s first launch across all storefronts simultaneously, they’ve gained visibility, and wishlists are looking good at this stage. The stepping stones are basically in place, so let’s see what Remedy achieves before the release date (keeping in mind they are gaining experience in self-publishing).
On the other hand, one must remember that releasing a broken game in August is always a worse option than releasing a polished game in September, even if there is significantly more competition for visibility (assuming one month can save it).
Apparently, physical copies (Physical release / Steelbox) can’t be ordered from the EU yet? Give a shout if they become available, and I’ll go grab one for the shelf.
I don’t understand the logic that Control wouldn’t compete with all other games. Of course it competes, and games take sales away from each other. Some more, some less. There are three big releases in the same week. Are there enough reasons to choose Control over a stronger IP like Silent Hill or a Capcom release buoyed by a massive streak of sales and critical success? Before that, money might have already been spent on Wolverine, leading people to skip all these releases.
Personally, a hundred times out of a hundred, I would take a slightly buggier release in a quiet August over a more polished release in a massive September rush.
Now was supposed to be the time for the game that generates money quickly at a high average price. Long sales tails and 2027 sales at a low average price don’t provide much comfort right now if the launch fails. The risks for that are elevated due to the massive competition. It is also quite clear that more announcements for September are coming. I’m sure something like Gears of War and a Nintendo release will still squeeze onto the list. We will probably know the final list in a week.
There is some quite interesting geographical data here regarding pre-orders.
Expanding the market outside of the US/EU seems to be working. On the other hand, it is concerning that pre-orders don’t seem to attract much interest in Remedy’s traditional markets.
Preliminary PC hardware requirements for Control Resonant from Remedy’s Discord. It looks like even my PC, built back during the COVID years, might suffice, even if it won’t be pretty. So, at least we won’t run into the same issue as with Alan Wake 2, where the install base was too small.
Yesterday, that physical version wasn’t visible anywhere yet. I wonder if they’ve been cautious to prevent dates etc. from leaking through any stores again, so it’s arrived with a slight delay. It was a strange situation for a moment where the standard version and steelbook were being advertised but couldn’t be bought anywhere Hopefully it will gradually appear in other stores now..
Gaming media outlets are now drumming up coverage regarding this PS early access exclusivity. On discussion forums, this has sparked more conversation than the trailer or pre-orders themselves.
Somehow it feels like Remedy always makes the wrong or at least controversial choices in these matters. Release dates, exclusivities, etc. I imagined things would be different when self-publishing, but apparently not.
Whatever visibility/compensation Remedy receives from Sony, it’s hard to see how, for example, a +€10 price increase for early access across all platforms wouldn’t have guaranteed the same end result without the grumbling.
On the other hand, it could be a very deliberate and smart move, since it’s only a few days from State of Play to SGF (Summer Game Fest), where Resonant will also be featured, so the talking points will inevitably have time to shift.
Time will tell. In itself, the game seems to be performing relatively better in pre-orders on the PS Store than on Steam, so perhaps this exclusivity was the right choice after all?
If I may speculate, my guess is that with that two-day exclusivity deal, they managed to get Sony to market the game through their own channels. That’s better visibility than having a deal with Microsoft, anyway. In my opinion, it doesn’t matter if there’s a bit of whining – no one is going to care about stuff like this once launch day arrives.
This is part of the playbook: former Remedy bears turn into bulls and Remedy bulls turn into bears
You can never truly escape market competition. Obviously, a game cannot be launched successfully before it is finished, but on the other hand, there is no point in polishing a finished game forever when the machinery needs to be moved on to the next projects and expansions. Releases inevitably cluster together, so you just have to endure and beat the competition from other games in the industry. Control and Remedy have enough brand recognition to manage and win if the game is good.
Now that I’ve chewed on this decision for a moment, this is a complete failure from the publishing team, considering we are talking about the most important release in Remedy’s history. How on earth did they end up choosing a “sent out to die” option as their release strategy?
Choosing a release window and identifying competition isn’t rocket science, but now every single step has gone completely wrong. Anyone familiar with the industry understands its laws, but apparently, Remedy insists on doing things the hard way and making the same mistakes again.
Kicking the can down the road won’t help anymore when the basics are this badly off and they are insists on shooting themselves in the foot..
In my opinion, the company has two options to fix the situation:
Take the hit and play safe - Move the release to January, issue a profit warning (negari), and state that the move is financially sensible OR
Go BIG or Go Home - Move the release to early November, show the market that the company actually trusts its product and believes in its success.
No big games are being released in November besides GTA (excluding Devolver’s indie releases). GTA is only being released on consoles, so there would be space and money available in the PC market.
The company would get positive visibility by being bold and could demonstrate that it truly trusts its game and believes it to be a AAA hit. They could even try Barbenheimer-style marketing or something else wild.
Even though a certain AAAA release is nearby, Resonant would easily sell double compared to that September rush and would also generate media coverage and social media buzz.
And if GTA were to be delayed again, the game would have all of November to itself.
In the name of transparency, let it be noted that I haven’t reduced my holdings, but I can no longer explain things to myself in the best possible light and be repeatedly disappointed. I’ve done quite enough of that.
I agree with your other points. A third option, which is not in the company’s own hands, is to see if others move out of the way.
Wolverine (Sept 15) likely won’t move anywhere. The gameplay was well-received and pre-orders are strong.
Silent Hill: Townfall (Sept 24) is the strongest candidate to move. No one was interested in the trailer, and it’s not trending on wishlists or in pre-sales. The biggest loser in the release window, but on the other hand, insignificant for Resonant even if it did move.
Onimusha (Sept 25) is trending better than Resonant on PC, but worse on PS. A free-to-play Demo facilitates player conversion to wishlists and pre-orders. Previous games were relatively short, Capcom likely doesn’t have a massive development budget tied up in this, they already have a good year in the bag, and this game’s ROI will likely be achieved even with lower sales. There might not be incentives to move unless Resonant completely dominates social media and the press during SGF and hands-on previews, overshadowing Onimusha. So far, it doesn’t look that way. Moving this would be the most significant for Resonant, now that Phantom Blade has already been delayed.
Ace Combat 8 (Oct 2) is unlikely to be moved. Strong fanbase, different genre, strong pre-orders.
It would certainly be nice if, for once, there was something other than “hope for the best” vibes in this case.
I’ve also been thinking about late January; it seems like a very good window. Q4 is quiet apart from a few blockbuster games. The gaming community is starving for something to play, and in January, media attention is guaranteed. I don’t really understand these “there’s always competition” comments. Just look at the H1 releases this year. You could throw a dart at a calendar and pick a better date than the current one with at most moderate competition. In September, roughly as many AAA titles are coming out within a single month as in the entire H1 combined. The competition is on an insane level. During Control’s launch week, there are no fewer than three major releases.
It is quite true that it might be better to wait for the final list and see what others do. It’s in no one’s interest to send games out to flop.
Hopefully it will gradually appear in other stores now..
