Remedy Entertainment is typically known for making third-person, single-player experiences, but its next game,FBC: Firebreak, is a big departure from those genres. Unlike most of the Finnish developer’s other works, likeAlan WakeandMax Payne,FBC: Firebreakis a multiplayer first-person shooter. The game, which was announced at an Xbox Partner Preview event earlier this month, is set in the world ofControl, the acclaimed action-adventure title from 2019. InFBC: Firebreak, players will partner together in squads of up to three people and explore the Oldest House, a federal bureau that’s been overrun by strange, supernatural entities. With the help of some guns and unorthodox weaponry, they will have to rid the government building of these threats.
Unlike most multiplayer-focused shooters, the plot inFBC: Firebreakwill be one of its major aspects. The title will feature an ongoing narrative that will be continued via post-launch content updates. Remedy hasn’t shared many details about what this entails, but fans won’t have to wait too long to find out for themselves.FBC: Firebreakis currently scheduled to release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC sometime in 2025. Interestingly, it will alsolaunch on Xbox Game Passand PlayStation Plus on day one. This is a pretty unusual release strategy for an AAA game like this one, but it mayset the title up for major success in the long term, despite all the competition it’ll have to face.
Releasing FBC: Firebreak on Xbox Game Pass and PS Plus Day-One is a Smart Strategy
The Multiplayer FPS Market is Difficult to Break Into, Especially for Paid Games like FBC: Firebreak
The market formultiplayer first-person shootersis, to put it bluntly, oversaturated. While there have been some modest successes in the genre, likeThe FinalsandHell Let Loose, few of them have been able to maintain healthy player counts for extended periods of time. Even fewer have reached the level of popularity that thejuggernauts in the industrycurrently enjoy. Free-to-play live service titles likeApex Legends,Valorant,Call of Duty: Warzone,Counter-Strike2, andOverwatch 2dominate the market and suck up the free time of many multiplayer FPS fans, making it difficult for them to give other games in the genre a fair shake.
Although Remedy Entertainment doesn’t envisionFBC: Firebreakas a game-as-a-service, it is still a multiplayer game at the end of the day, and also a paid one. Titles like these live and die by their player counts, so it’s incredibly important for them to have successful launches right from the get-go. The problem is, in this highly competitive multiplayer market, it’s hard to attract the attention of a wide audience of players and have them keep playing a game for years to come. This is especially an issue with paid multiplayer titles, such asFBC: Firebreak, which have higher barriers to entry than the variousfree-to-play gamesout there.
FBC: Firebreak’s Inclusion on Multiple Subscription Services Makes the Game More Accessible
Remedy’s approach to its upcomingstory-driven co-op FPSis the best of both worlds, in a way. By being available on multiple subscription services at launch,FBC: Firebreakwill have a lower barrier to entrythan most paid multiplayer games similar to it. Remedy is also able to cover the development costs of the game by taking bags of cash from both Sony and Microsoft. At the same time, since the game is not free-to-play, it won’t have to resort to egregious monetization methods to maintain a sustainable flow of revenue. Thanks to these factors,FBC: Firebreakhas the potential to become a breakout hit.
FBC: Firebreak
WHERE TO PLAY
FBC: Firebreak is a cooperative first-person shooter set within a mysterious federal agency under assault by otherworldly forces. As a years-long siege on the agency’s headquarters reaches its boiling point, only Firebreak— the Bureau’s most versatile unit—has the gear and the guts to plunge into the building’s strangest crises, restore order, and blast their way back from the brink.Paranatural PandemoniumDive into the Federal Bureau of Control’s (FBC) unpredictable and extradimensional headquarters during its darkest—and strangest—hours. As one of the FBC’s fearless first responders, you and your team are on call to confront everything from reality-warping anomalies to otherworldly monsters… no matter the odds. Will you contain the chaos or finally lose control?Cooperative ChaosJoin forces with friends or strangers to tackle each mission as a well-oiled crew. Survival in this three-player cooperative FPS hinges on quick thinking and seamless teamwork as you scramble to tame raging paranatural crises across a variety of unexpected locations. Improve your odds by utilizing the tools and skills that make you unique or improvising with whatever’s on hand to support your crew.Beyond BulletsBefore deploying, select your weapon and customize your Firebreaker’s Crisis Kit with specialized tools, grenades, support items, and paranatural augments… then modify them to suit your strategy and change the way you play. Experiment with different loadouts to perfect your playstyle and synergize with your team, giving you the edge to succeed in every mission, no matter the difficulty.The Federal Bureau of ControlReturn to the strange and unexpected world of Control or venture in for the first time in this standalone, multiplayer experience. Discover the iconic and unfathomable headquarters of the FBC — the Oldest House — from an entirely new perspective as a team of volunteer first responders with nothing but gear and guts to bring the Bureau back from the brink.
