Alan Wake Dev Loses Key Exec to Mobile Game Studio

Alan Wake developer Remedy Entertainment's Oskari Hakkinen has left the studio to found a new mobile game and app startup called Futurefly.

Hakkinen, who was previously head of franchise development at Remedy, has been at the studio for a number of years, working on Death Rally, as well as the first two Max Payne games. Hakkinen was also instrumental in convincing Microsoft to develop and release Alan Wake for PC.

His new studio consists of nine people and is based in Helsinki. Among the studio's staff are ex-Remedy, EA, and Microsoft developers.

Speaking to VentureBeat, Hakkinen said Futurefly's goal is to introduce gameplay into what would traditionally be non-game apps.

"In early 2014, I came up with a concept that I simply couldn't let go of and ended up putting together a garage band of developers to bring it to life, working on it in our free time," he said.

"We are on a mission to disrupt the consumer app space with games on the top of our minds. We are designing consumer apps with playable mechanics as part of the primary input mechanism."

"This is a new take, and something that is better shown than talked about," he added. "Fortunately, we are well into the development of our first instalment, so you won't have to wait too long."

In April, Quantum Break, Remedy's upcoming time-bending Xbox One shooter, was delayed. The game, previously set to launch in 2015, is now slated to arrive next year.

At the time, Microsoft head of publishing Shannon Loftis said in a statement that the company already has the "strongest games lineup in Xbox history" with games like Halo 5: Guardians, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Fable Legends,Forza Motorsport 6, and "more we'll announce in the coming months."

“With so many games launching this year, moving Quantum Break to 2016 extends our incredible portfolio into next year with a monster new IP," she said.