Quantum Break and Max Payne aren't in Remedy's Connected Universe, despite the Easter eggs

rockpapershotgun.com:

Action-horror sequel Alan Wake 2 showed up to last night’s Gamescom festivities with a cryptic trailer (below) that showed the studio’s signature Lynchian mystery, an upside-down New York, and some interesting live-action scenes. But references to Remedy’s past games have been the big conversation driver, especially since the studio is building up a “Remedy Connected Universe.” Creative director Sam Lake has now clarified that time-bending shooter Quantum Break and the Max Payne games aren’t cool enough to join the Remedy-verse, while also breaking down their approach to these shared-world games.

"The easy, clear answer is that, out of our past games, Max Payne and Quantum Break are not part of the Remedy Connected Universe. They are not part of Remedy's plans," Lake said in an interview with EW - though he does leave the door slightly ajar. "That being said, in a purely speculative, Easter egg kind of way, I do love the idea of enabling our audience to come up with theories. I don't want to shoot them down on that level," he added. "We are making questions possible and giving ideas to people that they can then form their own theories. I think that's very much part of the fun."

That Remedy-verse began - before we even knew it existed - with the original Alan Wake in 2010. The studio then made the connections between their games ‘canon’ in their paranormal FBI game Control and its AWE expansion. But many fans, including me, guessed that Quantum Break would loop into the tangled mystery somehow, since that game was littered with Easter eggs. The first mention of an AWE actually predates the expansion and showed up on a random chalkboard in Quantum Break. Remedy also has a running gag with the number 665, which first