Remedy Entertainment Plc: Remedy announces sales information for Alan Wake 2 - Remedy Investors

Alan Wake 2 was released in October 2023 to worldwide critical acclaim, earning a Metacritic score of 89 at launch. Today, Remedy Entertainment Plc (“Remedy”) announces that Alan Wake 2 has sold 1 million units by the end of December 2023, and 1.3 million units as of the beginning of February 2024. Alan Wake 2 is Remedy’s fastest selling game so far.

[Nyxus]

"By comparison, Alan Wake 2 sold over 50% more copies and over three times more digital copies in its first two months than Control did in its first four months."

Yes, because it's digital only...

[Cacabunga]

What do u you mean?? Sold more cause it’s digital only? Facepalm

I will never get this game as long as it is digital only.. boycott

[MADGameR]

Amen to that! Won't touch this game unless they announce the physical version. Boycott digital all the way. Do you guys even know whats gonna happen when all games are forced digital release only? You will lose your freedom of owning games. And, lets say they set up super strict policies where you can't cuss online on your favorite platform or you get a perma ban. Guess what? All those THOUSANDS of $$$$s you spent on those digital games? LOST forever! Now you have to buy them AGAIN! So you digital only guys better think long and hard. Because once digital is mainstream and physical is fazed out, there will be no going back. They will push these draconian policies.

[isarai]

He's not saying it sold more overall because it's digital only, he's saying it Sold more DIGITAL COPIES because it's DIGITAL ONLY. When you restrict 2 options down to one, of course it will artificially inflate the one option

[shinoff2183]

Same. Fk that.

Isarai that's what I've been trying to say. On ps 60 percent digital and 40 percent physical. That physical number would be way way higher if physical existed for even half the games on psn. There's only one option for a sh ton of games so it artificially inflates the digital percentage

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

The "over 50% more copies part" is still a comparison of the overall sales.

This would mean that Control sold around maybe 850,000 copies in the same timeframe.

[toxic-inferno]

It's still not as impressive as I'd have expected. A sequel to a popular games getting only 50% more sales than a debut title in an unknown franchise. Yes, they're set in a connected universe, but that wasn't well publicised during Control's release, was it?

[-Foxtrot]

Really trying to push this “we did the right thing with it being digital only” narrative aren’t they

[boing1]

Sad truth is, physical sales are now just a little fraction of purchases. We are talking single digits here. More often than not, the investment into pressing discs, confection and logistics is not worth it anymore.

[Nyxus]

@ boing: we learned from Sony's latest financial results that digital sales accounted for 66% of total game sales. 34% is hardly a 'little fraction'.

[darthv72]

@Nyxus... that's just Sony though. Tell me what it is when you factor in PC, Switch and Xbox sales. It drops the overall percentage down closer to that single digit mark. When even the mighty PS can't keep physical sales above the half way mark... you know you got trouble.

[Nyxus]

@ darth: Actually Switch physical percentage is higher if I'm not mistaken. But the point is, there's still a market for physical games, that's why a lot of smaller publishers have emerged in the last years.

[Crows90]

@darth

You don't have trouble when you account and factor in the enormous increase of overall sales across the board due to higher populations of gamers.

There's no denying that digital has increased but so has number of gamers and most of which have been exposed to an all digital world from the beginning. There's still a strong physical base which is probably still about the same with a bit of a decrease than it was years ago in terms of physical sales.

For instance. If a game sells 1 million physical and 1 million digital in 2018. And then the sequel sells 1 million physical and 2 million digital in 2020...then game sales have gone up and the percentage will k longer be 50/50....however the same base of physical is pretty much still present. It didn't move much if at all...simply more gamers in the world now.

[shinoff2183]

Boing

I'll be honest your just not telling the truth. Maybe that's true on xbox. But on ps and switch that's just not true. That's a misconception that way to many people run with. Sony is 60 digital and 40 percent physical. Physical would also be higherbif so many games would actually have a physical release. You are trying to pass off bs information

Pc adding in to the equation is another way to make artificial numbers also since they don't do any physical releases. Why do so many of you spread this

[darthv72]

@crows... things are not growing like you think. there has been some decline compared to previous gens. Even Sony knows this which is why they had to adjust their forecast. And to use your example of a games release and sequel...
Spider-man 1 is over 16m across PS4/PC, SM2 is only around 10m on PS5 and Miles is around 8m on PS4/5.
GoW [2018] is around 23m on PS4/PC whereas Ragnarok is 15m on PS4/5
Horizon ZD is around 20-21m on PS4/PC/PS5 and Horizon FW is only at 10m for PS4/5

those are some really big games which should have had their sequels eclipse the previous if there was actual growth. Now it may be attributed to Sony holding onto the PS4 crowd longer than they intended but they likely felt they didnt want to lose that sizable player base.

And this is why Sony is looking to try and supplement their decline with increasing PC sales. The PC market out numbers all console combined in regards to potential customers. In the console space, you figure there is a ceiling of about 180m customers. PC has double, if not triple that amount of potential customers. MS knew this from the beginning... it took only recently for Sony to figure that out and Nintendo is likely to follow suit at some point too.

[THEzRude]

I cannot even remember the last time i went to store and bought a physical game.
Maybe when i was a kid. Nowdays all my games are digital. Your boycott matters nothinf and nobody cares.
Only fraction of overall game sales nowdays are physical anyway. So yeah.

[-Foxtrot]

@THEzRude

Can’t wait until you bitch in 5 years time when digital becomes the norm and companies start taking the absolute p*** with content you’ve bought

It’s like lubing yourself up while bending over for them expecting to be f***** in the ass then justifying it

[badz149]

Gonna take awhile to make the money back at that pace, Remedy! Why not admit that you were wrong and release it on BD, like...right now?!

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

It's likely the publisher's decision (Epic), not theirs. It is strange though.

I wonder what percentage of people who prefers discs still bought it and how many sales were lost.

[Storm23]

I, for one, won't buy it until it is physical. I know a lot of people are in the same boat.

[darthv72]

Even if they did now, the number of physical units sold wont even make up for the cost of production, packaging and distribution. this is Alan Wake we are talking about... not Spider-man.

[Nyxus]

I'm sure Epic can afford it...

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

I don't think that's actually true. THQ Nordic volunteered to distribute it on disc. https://gamerant.com/thq-no...

And Alan Wake Remastered is on disc.

Might be because digital sales are more profitable.

[shinoff2183]

Pre order like larian did with baldurs gate 3, you don't spend your own money the pre-orders pay for themselves, and they make some cash on top of it. It's fairly simple.

[Neonridr]

this game deserves so much more. One of my favorite games of 2023. While I would have loved a physical release, I'm not going to willingly not play an amazing game because of some weird pride.

[darthv72]

Exactly. some just wont even give it the time of day BECAUSE its digital only. That is just stupid thinking. No way would i deny myself the opportunity to enjoy something just because its not physically on a disc/cart.

[Nyxus]

Good for you. I think buying digital is stupid.

[spicelicka]

I think it's more a matter of waiting for it to come to physical format or for the digital price to drop more, eventually they'll buy it. It's also stupid for the publisher to not take that into consideration, I hope they realize that.

[shinoff2183]

Why not. There's so manybgames out there I'd rather play anyway. They just missed a sale. That's on them don't pin it on me. Consumer guilt trip. Fk that.

[isarai]

If it were some other throwaway game I really wouldn't care. However from the getgo this game falls into the "something special" category for me. And those games I want to keep, collect and preserve to easily revisit in the future and possibly gift or sell if I want. Any game that is something special I do this, has nothing to do with pride, has everything to do with preserving what deserves to be preserved. And I'm definitely not gonna buy it twice because I caved and bought digital before hearing word on a physical release

[Neonridr]

I play games to be entertained. The mere fact that I didn't have to load a disc into my system to achieve that means very little to me at the end of the day.

To each their own, but people actively missing out on a legit GOTY contender because they can't buy it physically is something I could never relate to personally.

[darthv72]

there are plenty of game i will double dip for, but I usually always by digital to begin with. i did it with the first Alan Wake, got it digital on 360 for real cheap then i bought the CE as I liked the book packaging. Later i got the remastered edition on PS+ because i liked the original and then finally bought the physical when i saw the chance. Its still sealed as no reason to open it if I already have it digitally. Plus sealed games tend to hold or increase in value over time.

Why not double (or triple) dip if you really like something?

[isarai]

@Darth
Because I'm responsible with my income?

[darthv72]

"Because I'm responsible with my income?"

If you have to question yourself... maybe you aren't.

[isarai]

I wasn't

[shinoff2183]

@darth I double dip all the time. Same as you had Alan wake 360, I got the ps plus free one that month, and then I bought the physical on Amazon. I also never opened the physical. I've got no issue with digital games if my preference isn't fked over. I tend to also have issue with people o well physical is only a fraction of sales. Bs where? Xbox and pc, physical still sells a sh ton on the other to sonfraction that sh. I've stated before if more games were also released physically that are digital only those percentages would jump to probably more 50 50. Hell there's about 10 or more of us here clamoring for it. Most of us would put our money where our mouth is. I try to atleast once a week

[got_dam]

Most physical games these days are nothing more than a glorified launcher that will be just as useless as a digital game if download servers are shut down. AW2 was Aldo priced like a digital only game should be. When so many games are going for $70, AW2 was $50. I bought and do not regret it.

[Neonridr]

it's true, the disc acts as a key to verify a game and that's it. The entire contents of the game is stored locally nowadays.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Shame that their fastest seller is just reaching 1 million. They're such a creative studio, and they have really matured since Max Payne. Alan Wake II was the best game last year and more people need to play it.

[shinoff2183]

Then release it both ways. There's plenty of avenues for them to achieve this from a limited run games to the larian way. They make more money also

[KwietStorm_BLM]

waaah waah and it's still their fastest selling game. A physical release doesn't even have anything to do with what I said. And something like 89% of total game sales are digital. Physical games don't even exist on PC and haven't for decades. The only people crying about not buying anything digital are a small percentage of console gamers with a wall of games in their cave.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

$60 for a fairly linear 20-hour game isn't gonna cut it going forward.

[jznrpg]

Want my money? release a physical copy already. I’m can be stubborn and this is one of those things I’m stubborn about. No physical copy no buy for me at least until it’s in the bargain bin. I’d pay full price right now for it on disc.

[JEECE]

Okay, but everyone taking this attitude NEEDS to actually buy the game if/when they do a physical run of it. If you sit here and chirp chirp chirp about wanting a disc, and then they eventually release one and everyone who asked for it says "meh, mid, I'll wait for sale," they are going to take that as evidence that they were right to not bother initially.

[Tacoboto]

There's another hypocrite around here grandstanding about how much Alan Wake 2 needs a physical edition.

Yet they own Baldur's Gate 3.

These people are only saying this for upvotes.

[toxic-inferno]

@Tacoboto

Hello!

Just a reminder that it's a person's own choice what they spend their money on. If a person chooses not to buy a game in a particular format because they'd prefer to wait in the hope it will be released in a separate, more desirable format, then that is their own choice.

Have a good day!

[JEECE]

@toxic-inferno

Sure, it's every person's choice what they want to spend their money on. No one challenges that. But if you make a big stand about how you won't buy a game unless you can buy it on a disc, and encourage other people to take the same stand, but then turn around and buy other games digitally that aren't available on disc, you are a hypocrite.

Have a good day!

[Nyxus]

Baldur's Gate 3 does have a physical version: https://box.baldursgate3.ga...

Not out yet though. But it would be nice if Remedy could do something similar.

[JEECE]

@Nyxus

You may want to look at the release date for that physical version...

Nice edit lol.

[jznrpg]

I will buy it day one if they make it. I can’t speak for others. @Tacoboto I don’t own BG3 yet I’m waiting on my physical copy still. It should be here within a month or so. The only digital games I have is from PS plus.

[Tacoboto]

@jzn, I'm glad that you're consistent; unfortunately you have people like toxic that drag down the cause by saying one thing, doing the complete opposite, and trying to play victim when called out on it.

[Nyxus]

@ Jeece: Not sure why you're so focused on this one person. Don't know who it is either, but it's just one person anyway. Doesn't really mean much.

[DOMination-]

Reminds me of the endless people begging for Apple to release a small iPhone. Then when they finally made an iPhone mini nobody bought it and they discontinued it after only two generations.

The mainstream don't care anymore about physical and production of them is REALLY expensive not to mention terrible for the environment. If devs want to be digital only then they shouldn't cater to the handful moaning about it on news forums because as someone above mentioned, they will probably lose money.

If you want Remedy to survive, support them regardless of their distribution model.

[shinoff2183]

Simple solution do what larians doing. You have to buy full price off their site.

Tacoboto
Also maybe some have disposable income. Bought digitally after the physical release news. Bought physical release and bought digital after as not to open the physical release. You don't know. Instead of asking you went into attack to fight against options. Nice.

Domination

Then those same devs shouldn't complain about low sales when they don't release both ways. Physical releases can pay for themselves, larian isn't losing money on those pre orders. In fact the providers are paying for themselves, there's smaller publishers that would kill to publish Alan wake 2 when all their doing is small indies. The is said tonhave offered. That is on remedy then. Don't get mad at me cause I don't want to buy digital. Both options can and should exist. Again this is on remedy, the want is there.

I've bought digital games knowing I'd buy the physical also quite a few times. Cosmic star, oddworld, and numerous others.

[Petebloodyonion]

And after ppl are asking why companies like Remedy are happy to accept GamePass money and why we are starting to only see live service games.

[TheProfessional]

No the first one was good but not great and they did a digital only release for this, that's why it didn't sell a lot.

[Tacoboto]

Didn't sell a lot... It's Remedy's fastest selling title in their history.

[Petebloodyonion]

So what's the excuse for Control?
Evil Within?
Prey?
Dishonored?

[Nyxus]

It's their own fault for making it digital only. That's an automatic skip from me.

[Petebloodyonion]

So ok let's make it a 20% increase due to physical
I'm sure it's now a success story

[Tacoboto]

Alan Wake 2 is not on Game Pass and is strictly single player. Where's this comment coming from?

[Petebloodyonion]

My point is the majority of ppl here complaining about How Gamepass is ruining gaming and the same for Live service games.
But when companies do make great single-player games PPL don't buy them.

After that ppl wonder why Sony suddenly wants to focus on Live service games, remasters and only sequels to established IP.

[shinoff2183]

Im not supporting something that doesn't give two fks about what I want out of the situation especially a luxury thing like video games.

[MetroidFREAK21]

I'll buy myself a copy once I can walk into a store and hold it in my hands

[isarai]

Cool now put it on a disc so I can buy it.

[Silber]

No physical-Release and no Steam-Release.I bet the sales woud have been doubled. I did not bought it because i do not buy in the Epic Store.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

This kind of game would sell around 100K-200K maximum on Steam anyway. Not a genre PC gamers care about.

[hiawa23]

Great game. Love it. Interesting numbers.

[Skuletor]

Would have sold more if they didn't make it an Epic Game Store exclusive on PC.