Why Alan Wake 2 is Not Selling as Well as Remedy Wants

The Outerhaven writes: Remedy Entertainment has stated that despite Alan Wake 2 being its fastest-selling game, it has yet to recoup its development costs. Here are a couple of reasons why this might be.

[Tacoboto]

That's pretty much hitting the nail on the head.

Not releasing on Steam especially for PC gamers I think is the bigger of the two points affecting figures, but it certainly would've helped having a physical edition out on store shelves with a slight sale for Black Friday shortly after release.

Here's hoping after the Expansions they'll bring it out to at least Steam. With retailers like Best Buy ending all physical media though, I doubt there'll be a disc out unless Remedy can do what Larian did with BG3

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

Remedy’s titles have never really been big sellers. However, skipping Steam was likely a mistake. Steam despite having competition, is still the dominant PC digital store front.

[Cacabunga]

Time to release it physical and drop this digital only crap

[badz149]

Steam having competition? LOL keep telling yourself THAT! there is no real competition for Steam on PC.

[BeHunted]

"Not releasing on Steam especially for PC gamer"

Because Epic funded the game, it’s not rocket science. It’s like Valve not releasing its exclusive games on the Epic Store. Competition is great.

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

He understands the reason why it's exclusive to EGS but it's undoubtedly one of the factors that lead to less sales than they'd like.

[BehindTheRows]

REAL competition is great. Valve also doesn't partner with 3rd party devs and make previously multiplatform franchises exclusive. They keep THEIR OWN games exclusive to Steam. Apples-to-cherries.

Besides, Epic has done nothing to push the medium forward and their store is many steps behind Steam.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

Releasing on Epic Games only is a big problem, most PC gamers will not spend money there, even if they really want the game, a lot will just wait it out or just not buy.

[Amplitude]

I was absolutely hyped for this game but the digital only on consoles made me choose to play it on PC. I wasn't that devastated but then it was Epic exclusive. As a result I completely lost interest. Low hopes but fingers crossed a Steam release happens in the future.

A digital-only technical masterpiece really should be played on PC imo so the Epic thing is such a kick in the ____

[gold_drake]

for me?

cause its digital only.
and their "excuse" that puttingnit on a disc would make the game a 70 dollar game.

[BeHunted]

"their "excuse" that puttingnit on a disc would make the game a 70 dollar game."

Digital games should always be cheaper than physical discs, and when they are on sale, they are much cheaper by a significant amount.

[gold_drake]

sure, but they made it out to be that physical games are 20 moneys more expensive because of the physical aspect.

which is dumb and not true.

[shinoff2183]

Not true. Usually a physical game can be found cheaper. I picked up the remaster of Alan wake 1 off Amazon for 10.49 or some sh like that. Physical games can always be found cheaper. Unless we're talking some of the indies that get down to like 5 bucks. You ain't finding oddworld new n tasty physically for 5 bucks

Gold drake your right. Especially if you give us the option like larian. The pre orders literally pay for itself.

[BeHunted]

@Shinoff2183

Alan Wake Remastered was less than $10 on Xbox store a few weeks ago

[Smellsforfree]

How much something cost to make or produce (e.g., fabricate a disc with a case) rarely relates to actual price to the consumer. Markets set the price of goods, not the raw material cost that goes into it. That is very simplistic thinking.

[-Foxtrot]

The thing is it is cheaper but it’s not as cheap to justify it

I’d rather just pay the extra money and get a physical version

[Petebloodyonion]

Of course, it's stupid to believe that physical is close to 20$ more expensive to produce
who's in their right mind would believe crap like:

- The increasing cost of printing discs, and plastic boxes when the demand for such items is lower.
- Higher transport fees due to gas price hikes and cost of manutention.
- Cost of managing items that need inventory management systems, shelf space, return policies with stores, etc.
- Cut in profit margins from the second selling market.
- Physical store profit cut.

Honestly, who would be stupid enough to believe these lies from Remedy?

[THEzRude]

only minority cares about physical copies anymore. So why should we care for market that hardly brings in any money ?

[I_am_Batman]

Boxed copies still account for roughly 18% of the total game sales revenue on console. That's still a significant chunk. Obviously it's up to each publisher to decide, but I don't see why you'd deliberately ignore a 10 billion dollar market unless you can't fit a physical release into the initial budget.

[Knightofelemia]

Why would anybody care about digital. We all know that if something happens to the account no matter the platform you lose the games. Those games associated to the account a giant library can be wiped clean and you have to rebuy them with a new account. Also digital games do have a shelf life depending on how long the studio has that license. Activision lost the license to the Transformers games hence they were pulled from the digital stores. I can still play War and Fall of Cybertron on PS3 because I own the discs. Now if somebody did not buy the digital cousins for those games then that person is screwed on those two games. They would need to Ebay the physical versions of those games. Another down fall to digital games is that some of those games are console locked meaning certain digital games are not available on the PS4 or PS5. Take Xenogears for instance it is locked to PS3 digitally I don't see SquareEnix answering fans and porting the game over to the PS4 and PS5. And there are other games on the PS3 I can't play on the PS4 or PS5 because the license again is pulled or its locked to a specific console. The one feature I wish Sony kept up with the PS4 and PS5 is the ability to play PS1 discs. And I care about physical games because I can find them cheaper whether new or used. Pawnshops, thrift stores who don't know games that will be idiots and price them to a point here they want to get rid of them fast. Also I like the fact that if I wasted money on an overhyped piece of shit game I can trade it in or I can privately sell it to someone who might enjoy it. I cannot sell or trade in the digital cousin to that physical copy of that game. All I have to do is realize is that I wasted money on a title I don't like. There are people out there who do care about physical copies it's called collectors and people who enjoy the sense of owner ship. When I buy a digital copy I am buying a license to play that game there is no sense of owner ship there. And people and collectors are proud to show off their library and brag about how many games they own.

[ModsDoBetter]

Source?
Or is this more made up ThezRude nonsense?

[THEzRude]

Digital is the future. Your tears wont change this fact.
Sure it would be nice to have a physical box gathering dust in my shelve that i forget in a moment even exist.
But only minority of gamer population cries for physical copies.
Console peasants are their own breed for sure, they are the FIFA and COD sheeps.

[jznrpg]

No physical and no steam you lose 2 chunks of players off the top. It’s an Epic published games so I get why they didn’t release on steam but no physical was dumb.

[tagzskie]

An excellent game not selling well is so sad.. Theres a lot of game deserved not to sell well like cod mw3 for example. But this game is not. The last redemption should be released on steam and disc.. That should be another half to million at best i think.

[shinoff2183]

I'd be down

[-Foxtrot]

They need a physical edition, simply put

Give us a collectors edition with a steelbook aswell and I’d buy it

[blackblades]

Options basically, people didn't buy it because of it not being on steam. Other because its not physical on consoles. Makes me think Xbox digital only gonna hurt it even more.

[MeteorPanda]

Cause the story is not a circle, it's a spiral!

It's a spiral
*old men singing norse*
It's a Spiral!

There, l've written the plot of alan wake 2, save yourself the 70 hours

[ChasterMies]

For me, it’s not access, it’s all because of PS+. I am swimming in games that I don’t have time to play. I cannot justify adding another game to my backlog until the price is at least 50% off.

[Hofstaderman]

Simple, no physical version.

[Relientk77]

If there was a physical copy, I would have bought the game. There isn't one so I didn't buy it.

[Samonuske]

Still waiting on that physical.

[Promachos]

For me it's the wokeness.

Alan Woke II. Most people can't relate to a black female named Saga Anderson lol. This games isn't Alan Wake.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

Nothing in this game is 'woke.'

[shinoff2183]

What about aloy in horizon. San andreas still one of my favorite games. I can't relate to cj. That seems like you just wanted an issue with the game.

[I_am_Batman]

"Most people can't relate to a black female named Saga Anderson lol."

Being unable to relate to a protagonist based on skin color and sex is literally a "woke" talking point, but go on.

How egocentric do you have to be to find this sort of stuff immersion breaking? Identity politics has broken people's brains.

[FunAndGun]

What name should a black female have that you can relate to? Could you relate to a white woman with the name Saga Anderson? What about a black man named Saga Anderson? It seems very tiring having to put everything you consume through your non-woke filter.

[raWfodog]

I don’t think you completely grasp the true meaning of ‘woke’ if you think it’ relates to the name of black females.

[Elda]

LOL! Woke?? Nonsense.

[babadivad]

Hhmmm, I Think you could have done a better job at making your point...

[Moe-Gunz]

I purchased the game but I really couldn’t continue after a while. The writing and pace of the game killed it for me.

[kas84786]

Exactly same for me too, didn't even feel like a Alan wake game at all, borefest.

[Goozex]

Bring out the physical copies and then it will help drive sales

[I_am_Batman]

Like many others have already said, I'm also waiting for a physical release. Would be interesting to see how much of a sales boost a delayed physical release would cause. Of course the timing of that release plays a role too. The next couple months are pretty stacked already.

[dogmanx23]

Me personally, I'm waiting for the physical copy. A cool collectors edition would also be nice.

[MGRogue2017]

I believe piracy is one of the main culprits for why Alan Wake II isn't selling as well as it could. It only takes me around 10 seconds to find the game to download online free of charge. A repacked version too, which helps to save storage space. Obviously there's really not much Remedy Games can do to prevent piracy with their new game releases, other than investing in Denuvo or something else, but even then, not much can prevent talented hackers and crackers from doing their thing and 'cracking the code', so to speak, and releasing a cracked version of the game for hundreds of thousands of internet pirates online, who would love nothing more than to play the game for free

If they were to add anti-piracy measures to Alan Wake II and other new game releases, then all that would simply do is protect the first several months of initial sales, which is what's most important, because as any game gets older, it makes less sales as folk tend to move on to newer and more interesting games

Before anyone says that piracy doesn't hurt a company's sales, I'm fairly sure that it does, but not severely. Remedy Games will still profit from many sales. Judging by download counts on file-sharing links, and from leechers on torrents, the incredibly large amount of folk downloading the cracked version is simply staggering. If folk can avoid paying for the game, then they will gladly seek out the cracked version of any game.

[RhinoGamer88]

I finished the first game, it had interesting hooks and scares...

The second game I bought was based on the hype and PSN sale. I kept playing it waiting for it to be more than a walking simulation with hidden object/clues moments. Five hours in, I gave up due to boredom. If I wanted a walking game, I would have played Death Standing.

[Ethereal]

Release a physical edition and I'll buy it.

[anast]

The fans of this game came from a time when games got put on discs. Not many new fans were going to line up for this title, so the company cut out the old fans and lost. It's not complicated.

[Knightofelemia]

If they offered a physical version I would grab it. No physical version I am not giving Remedy any of my money. And not putting the game on Steam is a big mistake.

[P_Bomb]

Platinumed it last weekend. The puzzles and collectibles were pacing killers. That one box where you had to do the math problem regarding tires? Wtf Ugh. Cliffhanger ending was a bummer too. I don’t think I’ll be buying the DLC.

[Smellsforfree]

I know some folks who aren't buying it simply because it isn't on Steam.

[ObsessedGeorge]

I wanted the game so bad since it's announcement. The digital only releaase killed it for me, so I haven't bought it and I am not planning to. I only buy physical games.

[Dfooster]

A game series people might take a chance on at £40 or so but full price digital only and people will just pass it up or wait for a sale in 6 months time.