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Obituary

Sami Vanhatalo Death | Sami Vanhatalo Dead – Obituary | Passed Away

 ·  5 min read

Sami Vanhatalo Death – Dead | Passed Away – Obituary

Sami Vanhatalo Death – Dead: A great loss was made known to InsideEko. As friends and families of the deceased are mourning the passing of their loved and cherished Sami Vanhatalo.

Having heard about this great loss, the family of this individual is passing through pains, mourning the unexpected passing of their beloved.

This departure was confirmed through social media posts made by Twitter users who pour out tributes, and condolences to the family of the deceased.

In memory of Sami

My dear friend Sami Vanhatalo (Reward) slept away from us yesterday.

I met you Sami for the first time in the late 80’s at a computer party in Hartola, when the Finnish Computer scene started. I noticed back then that you were a very talented artist, graphic artist and organizer. You were a member and actively influenced in several Finnish
and foreign scene groups as well as in the modem-bbs scene in the early 90’s.

Later, you were one of the founding members of Finland’s most successful gaming company, Remedy.
You were creating game history with the games like Death Rally, Max Payne and Alan Wake. You were also involved in many start-ups as an investor, mentor and author. Some of these companies are very successful.

I heard some years ago from a young graphic artist how he had met you. He was your big fan and thought you were a legend.
You had been very friendly to him, helped him and told him how to do things the other way.
You counseled him and mentored an unknown person unselfishly. This is one story among others about how you were appreciated.

We had many adventures around the world together at scene parties and we had a lot of fun. As a person,
you were very empathetic, helpful, considerate and really endearing. You will be warmly remembered among your friends.

The picture is from a computer party in the summer of 1990 when you had won a demo competition with Slayer and Uncle Tom in the spring in Sweden at the Eastern Conference with a legendary demo of Mental Hangover Scoopex. There, together with our friends, we cheered and laughed at how Finland emptied the prize table in Sweden
and got the main prize USR-Robotics HST home in Finland 🙂

Recently, we called weekly. You always started the call saying good day Director Hoffren …
In recent months, you talked about how good friends need to be in contact often. I guess you knew that the departure was near. We had plans to see and have fun together but unfortunately time ran out.
You reminded and taught me that friends need to stay in touch.
Thank you for those many calls and lengthy discussions. I appreciate them forever.

Thank you for these decades.

You will be missed by a lot of good friends, daughter and Tuhma- & Täystuho (Naughty & Total Destruction) cats.
Be well up there and keep the corner table chair reserved with Lennu for me.

your friend,
Mika Hoffren

RIP Sami Vanhatalo. Sami was one of the co-founders of Remedy Games – He worked with us on Death Rally, Max Payne 1 and 2. He also continued with Remedy and worked on Alan Wake.

Sami is shown here second from right accepting an award with the rest of Remedy at E3 2000.

Yesterday I lost one of my best friends on this earth, and I stil cant believe it. Sami Vanhatalo was my first friend in Finland, always big heart and willing to help, who showed me into what it is to be Finnish and why I fell in love with this country and people, but also Sisu (there was no challenge he couldn’t conquer, especially the harsh sickness he got several years ago that almost killed him but he got back on his feet as a new person, and I was there to see this), Saunas (especially the one on this yacht of his friend) , Game development, Drinking (oh my), arguing always on the Assembly and demoscene days and Amiga, his two cats of destruction, pink couches, women (oh my) and so many great memories.

Sami was always a guest in my house in Israel, and every time I went to Finland, I was visiting him, staying and speaking about our lives.

Sami was one of a kind, one of Finland’s legendary creators, Remedy originals.

I’m hurt, and still in shock, and sad I didn’t manage to say proper goodbye. Sami, I’m sure you rock them as you know in Valhalla. RIP my friend.

I will never forget Sami Vanhatalo. He once told me that IGDA Finland was original him and 5 other guys in a pub, and now we’re a multi-billion dollar industry. For me, he was the embodiment of everything positive about the Finnish game industry. Rest in peace, friend.


Woke up to some really sad news. Sami Vanhatalo sadly passed away. The
@remedygames
legend was instrumental in making the Max Payne games. A true gaming legend has sadly died. RIP Sami. My thoughts are with you and your family.

RIP Sami Vanhatalo, co-founder of Remedy. He helped a naive and curious nobody to get into the industry 21 years ago. He was kind, had balls to go all in and was fair. He was a friend and a brother in arms

We are still working on getting more details about the death, as family statement on the death is yet to be released.

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