The Publishing Rights for Both Games Are Owned by Microsoft
Author’s note (7/18/2018): This Alan Wake & Quantum Break story has been edited in order to be more accurate.
If you’re waiting on a sequel to Alan Wake or Quantum Break then the developer of both games, Remedy Entertainment, would need the sequels to be approved by Microsoft.
Speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, Remedy CEO Tero Virtala said that Alan Wake was made in “collaboration with Microsoft” and Quantum Break is an IP that’s owned by Microsoft. This means that sequels to both of those games would need Microsoft’s say so.
“They decided not to take it further,” Virtala said of Microsoft’s past decision on a Quantum Break sequel.
In regards to an Alan Wake sequel, Virtala’s comments somewhat contradict what was said by a Remedy director back in June. “So we own the Alan Wake IP, yes. I just want to say right away that it’s very dear to us and close to our hearts,” said Mikael Kasurinen, a Remedy developer for their upcoming game, Control. “We all love Alan Wake at Remedy and I think all of us want to see a new Alan Wake game.”
It is unclear how much of the Alan Wake IP is owned by Microsoft or Remedy Entertainment so COGconnected has contacted Remedy for clarification and will update the story if we get a response.