Remedy rolls back Control update that forced players to use the Epic Store launcher

The update that brought Photo Mode to Remedy's outstanding shooter Control today also delivered another, unexpected surprise. A small number of users on Reddit (via USgamer) noticed that, after the update was applied, it was no longer possible to launch the game directly through the executable file or their Steam library: It was only accessible through the Epic Games Store launcher.

Even worse for these players, the update also disabled for Steam Controllers and other Steam-supported peripherals, and as you might imagine not everyone was happy about it. Numerous commenters took the change as a stealthy insertion of DRM and while nobody seemed quite sure who to blame—Remedy, or publisher 505 Games, or the Epic Games Store—the situation didn't help alleviate the persistent suspicion that surrounds Epic for some gamers.

As it turns out, the whole thing was a mistake. Remedy issued a statement saying that the intent was to use the Epic Store launcher "to validate future paid expansions, not to force you to play online or to remove Steam controller support." To address the issue, Remedy will roll Control back to the previous version as soon as possible, which unfortunately means Photo Mode will also be going away. But hopefully only briefly: Remedy said the update will be restored "as soon as we can fix the issues that came up."

"We will have more information to share as soon as we sort this out," the studio said, "No need to blame Epic for our mistakes."