Dear Remedy Entertainment,
There is no easy way to say this, so I’ll just get right to it. I’m breaking up with you. I’m packing my bags, and never looking back. It’s over, we’re finished. You may want to know why, to understand what led me to this decision after so many years of adoration and fandom. I hope my words will help you find the peace that I am now pursuing.
About a month ago I was punched in the gut while sitting at my PC. It is difficult to describe what I felt. It was as if millions of PC gamers suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. Remedy, you had made a decision, one that I will never forget; you pulled the plug on Alan Wake for the PC. My world had gone dark.
You were once one of my favorite game developers, Remedy. Many PC gamers shared my sentiments—you championed the PC platform and practically made history when you introduced the Max Payne series. Sure, you were a relatively new game studio in early 2000 with a small crew of developers and artists, but you managed to deliver a brilliant new game franchise that shared no similarities with anything else out there. Everyone was happy, and life was filled with slow-motion frivolity. Do you remember those days? We would dance, hand in hand, until the sun went down and the lights went out. I introduced you to all of my friends, and they thought you were the greatest thing to ever happen to the PC. You had created a kingdom in spent bullet casings.
Only you could improve on perfection. In 2003 you made Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. The game was wonderful—adorned by gorgeous graphics, ragdoll physics, and more noir than you could shake a Magnum revolver at. Max had grown uglier, with that terrible tie of his, but you, Remedy, you were as beautiful as ever. I was so satisfied with what we had. All of my console gaming friends were jealous, they knew the game was better on the PC. They would have given just about anything to have a mouse in hand and be me in those days.
I couldn’t have been more excited when you announced Alan Wake, that brand new psychological action thriller with a gorgeous graphics engine. You had earned my full respect. I knew this title would be one of greatness. That was 2005 though, and life was very different. Today, the love and enthusiasm that I had for you, Remedy Entertainment, has been replaced by blackness and hatred. You have abandoned those that helped build your foundation.
You stopped talking to me, Remedy. You didn’t tell me how Max Payne 3 was coming along. I began to worry about you, and my fears were only confirmed once you passed the Max Payne IP over to Rockstar Games so you could focus on Alan Wake. I understand this may be a mid-life crisis, and you just need to cut the fat and find out who you really are. I encourage any such soul-searching efforts. I shouldn’t have needed to be worried, either, as Rockstar Games has made a name for themselves with some very good titles in recent years.
They say love means giving someone the chance to hurt you, but trusting they don’t. I began to think that my trust was misplaced the moment information on Max Payne 3 was released. Rockstar Games was taking the game in the wrong direction. Max had become fat and he was in Brazil fighting drug traffickers. This was wrong. It was all wrong. Things had begun to fall apart, and deep down inside, I knew that the end was coming faster than a buzz from a heavy dosage of Valkyr.
The sun was setting with practiced bravado. Twilight crawled across the sky, laden with foreboding. I knew something was going on. I saw how you looked at the Xbox 360. I noticed how you talked to it, with that gleeful look in your eye, just like the one you showed me all those years ago. There was nothing I could do to stop it—you were his, and he was yours. When you announced that Alan Wake would be an Xbox 360 exclusive, it was the final knife in my heart. The whole thing was a joke, and I was duped. We were all duped.
You drove the knife deeper into my heart. Only a few days after the announcement, that month’s issue of CGW magazine showed up on my doorstep. Like a dark messenger riding in on a cavalry of despair, there sat Alan Wake on the front cover. I took a breath and opened up the story. Right in the opening paragraph, it stated Alan Wake as being an Xbox 360 exclusive. The news broke in a print magazine. You made this decision long before you decided to tell me, Remedy. The mere thought of such an act disgusts me. It’s over, Remedy. I am finished with you.
Now I’m trying my best to move forward and get over this. I suggest you do the same, Remedy. I’m not the type to change my mind, and outside of you buying back the rights to Max Payne 3 and launching Alan Wake on the PC, nothing you can do will bring life back to this cold, dead heart within me. Even if you moved all of your operations to some town in Indiana, like Richmond, and begged me to come work for you, I wouldn’t do it. You’ve already hurt me too much.
I know we’ll see each other in Los Angeles in June. You’ll be showing everyone your stuff at E3, and I’ll be there on business doing my job. It will be awkward, and I promise not to make a scene.
I’m sorry about this. I didn’t want for things to end this way, but you left me no choice. Don’t bother trying to find me if you need me, I’ll be grabbing drinks with my buddies, Valve and Crytek.
Regretfully,
Bobby Miller
Articles RSS