Alan Wake 2 Is Still Not Profitable For Remedy Nearly One Year Later

While the game has recouped most of its development and marketing expenses, it’s yet to make any profit.

[-Foxtrot]

Should have released it physically at the same time

Lessons learnt hopefully.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

I think a key cause of low sales is not the lack of a physical release. Alan Wake is simply a low selling IP.

[-Foxtrot]

But it would have helped

I'm not saying the sales would have sky rocketed but it could have gave them a boost

There's a lot of people who have held off but it's gotten to a point where it's been so long and the hype has died down that people are probably now thinking "Gee. Times are tough, might just wait until it's reduced now or on sale since I have plenty in my backlog to play".

Least if it was done at launch you'd have had more pre-orders and once those great reviews hit, more people would have been sucked into the hype to try it out day one.

[toxic-inferno]

I certainly held off for the physical release. And fortunately, it's paid off.

Very excited about playing the game when it releases!! I'm a big fan of the first game.

[Cacabunga]

I agree, but just a 25% boost in sales from physical is a non negligible number..
bad decision to go all digital for a “low sales generating serie”..

[CobraKai]

Foxtrot is right
Like Hellblade 2 and Black Myth, i passed/am passing cuz there’s no physical release. Like HB2 and BMW, i was very excited for the game. Now, the hype over it died after a bunch of new games got released. And it’s still $80. Had it been a day 1 physical release, i woulda spent that money but at this point, might as well wait for the discount as well.

[Games_People_Play]

No physical is the ONLY reason I have not bought/played it yet. I also refuse to spend $200 on a “collector’s” physical edition ONLY.
No game, No franchise, is worth that to me,
period.

[monkey602]

That's why I didn't get it.
But there's a lasting effect there too that you've touched on "the same time"

No point releasing a physical copy a year and a half later for full price. It's not a €70 game anymore and I'm not paying that much. I've waited this long, I'll wait until it's a reasonable price.

The ball was well and truely dropped here but they've obviously felt that and don't need us telling them they screwed up.

[Berenger]

It really is that simple. Sure, other digital releases have succeeded (Baldurs Gate 3) but they easily would have sold an additional 500k-1 million copies by having a physical release

[Nooderus]

Baldurs Gate 3 is a better game

[Berenger]

@Nooderus they're two totally different games and both had several GOTY nominations so we can't pretend AW2 was some scrub product. My point was more around the fact that BG3 succeeded despite being digital only at launch but it was also in Early Access for 3+ years. Heck, it's the reason I bought Stadia 🤣

[CrimsonWing69]

Let’s be real, the first Alan Wake had a physical release and sold poorly. What is the best selling Remedy game and what does the average sales for their games look like? Is Alan Wale 2 the lowest? Baldur’s Gate 3, an extremely niche and hardcore turn-based CRPG, did not have a physical release at launch and it broke records.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

Remedy as a studio suffers from the low sales curse. I’ve played and liked most Remedy games, I only disliked Control and haven’t gotten around to Alan Wake 2 yet. Alan Wake, Quantum Break, Control and the first 2 Max Payne titles can’t be called blockbusters.

[Tapani]

They should have released it on Steam and GoG at the same time as on Epic Store. Because it is an Epic exclusive, it is not selling enough. Everyone's waiting for the Steam release.

Physical releases sales on PS5 are around less than 20% today. PC sales are mostly on Steam, I believe around 85% of them, and all digital.

[babadivad]

Monkey D Luffy

[Fist4achin]

I do agree with the physical release as well, but they're acting like AW is on par with RE and it's not. Cult following, yes and that's all.

[Vits]

Releasing a game for a console with over 25 million users is not worth the development cost. But releasing physical media for a niche game, which according to various reports, including Sony's Q1 FY24 report, accounts for 20% of sales (or 12 million units if converted to users), would have helped. God, I love N4G users' logic.

[Flewid638]

Spend more money manufacturing physical copies of a game no one cares about? lol.

[shinoff2183]

Physical release on consoles, and and not releasing on steam. Makes sense. They fixed the physical issue, are their plans for a steam release?

[Michiel1989]

they're unable to (for a certain period) because of a contract with epic, I wouldn't wait for it if I were you.

[INMATEofARKHAM]

I got to imagine It’s getting closer to release on Steam than not at this point.

[Amplitude]

Alan Wake 2 is different than the rest of the timed exclusives. It's actually fully funded and published by Epic.

Like Fortnite, until they give up on their garbage store, it likely won't be coming to Steam. I'm still waiting though. That thing has to die eventually.

[JEECE]

I think the console focused players are missing the importance of this mistake. A lot of PC players just don't want to clutter up their PCs with a million launchers. If you aren't on Steam, and don't offer a DRM free option through GOG, a lot of PC players are going to ignore you.

[P_Bomb]

It’ll get there.

[Firebird360]

Imo it could've been huge but they sat on it too long. I wanted Alan wake 2, years ago.

[mudakoshaka]

The Sweet Baby Inc involvement killed it for me. Bought the game and played like 10 hours. I like games or movies reflecting the real world. I would have a difficult time with a white detective called Chukwu Obafemi solving crimes in Nigeria. So misplaced.

[SimpleDad]

Skip for me.

[badz149]

That SBI fee was steep

[senorfartcushion]

What the hell are you talking about?

[-Foxtrot]

Allegedly when SBI were brought on board Saga was race swapped despite already being established in their shared universe. It was Quantum Break to be fair, something they have to tip toe round because of MS owning the rights but Sam Lake was still kept as his character so people are pointing the finger. It is a little weird

https://i.redd.it/bp6gjcnyq...

https://i.imgur.com/VK0Wmib...

[MrBaskerville]

@-Foxtrot
She's the daughter of Mr Door, so would be weird if she was white. This controversy is idiotic considering the whole issue stems from a hideen easter egg in an (at the time) unrelated game.

[gleepot]

Forced DEI.

[coolbeans]

@-Foxtrot

AWII's Gameplay Director, Kyle Rowley, shot that down a while ago. Saga was black before SBI ever came on board according to him. What SBI *DID* do was basically sensitivity reading and workshopping Saga's dialogue - which sadly shows.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

The problem isn't Saga being black at all. The problem is her taking half screen and play time in a game called Alan Wake 2 ffs. Imagine buying a Tomb Raider game to play as a male adventurer besides Lara Croft.

[babadivad]

This is the real problem. Her parts are so fucking boring too. I've struggled picking the game back up because half of the time I'm playing match the picture on the imagination board with Saga. It fucking DRAGS the game.

[senorfartcushion]

This says more about your grasp of the English Language

Just because something is named after a character, it doesn't mean that they have to be the main character - or even the playable character.

The Legend of Zelda - ever heard of that?

[coolbeans]

While I can understand that annoyance with screentime share, Remedy were in a hard place with such an extensive time since the last AW dropped. Incorporating another POV character directly tied to Alan Wake's story is both a great way to introduce new players and establish someone outside of The Dark Place.

[coretone]

babadivad - Her parts are easily the best parts of the game. She is a better protagonist in that game than Alan, in my opinion

[kennyg123]

thats really sad.

[anast]

They should have went physical and digital out the gate and reduced marketing cost. This isn't a game that was going to pull in a bunch of new players anyway.

[senorfartcushion]

And not made any DLC

[anast]

This too, for sure.

[coolbeans]

Why not? The new expansion was fun.

[senorfartcushion]

Coolbeans

Im sure it is, but I mean the cost of making a dlc

[JimBeans]

The first one was a great traditional thriller. The second one went off the rails, took forever to get started. They should have kept the pacing from the first. Alan Wake 2 is boring.

[senorfartcushion]

That's ok.

It's art. Be proud of your work

And regarding your margins: all I can ask is why you developed the DLC expansions? Surely that could have been a cost you could have saved?

[thecodingart]

Should have had a publisher whom would let you release it to Steam

[hard joe]

still too heavy for many PCs
AMD FSR is savior for old PCs

[Amplitude]

Naaaaah even a 2080 can run AW2 and still look and play fantastic at 1080p. Or DLSS'd up to 1440p.

I consider that relatively mid range for gaming PCs, personally. Yeah a 1070 ain't gonna run it but anything even slightly recent will be alright

[jznrpg]

Physical release isn’t out yet.

[VENOM OF SINS]

Get rid of the Epic Game Store exclusivity. Sony just opened up the PSVR2 to Steam and dropped a huge sale on the device. They're now hitting a larger audience and product is starting to move once again.

[gold_drake]

its sad to see, but they did it themselves.

the digital only route was a big mistake, only to walk bk kn their decision because of low sales.

but i think this year specifically has seen low sales for some of the best games jn years, imo.

but, who knows why this game specifically didnt do as well.

[jonos]

Alan Wake 2 is such amazing game, at least for me. Especially when you play with Saga.

[coretone]

Agreed. For me it's a better game than most that come out in 2023, including BG3 that everybody loves.

[ChasterMies]

when it goes on sale, sales will skyrocket

[Flewid638]

Talk about a game literally no one cared about.

[Michiel1989]

did you calculate the bag from epic for exclusivity with that or not? I wanna support remedy, but they make it hard with their business practices.

[Juancho51]

Sometimes when you make an investment it takes a while to make its returns, but it will inevitably. The market is slow to catch up maybe because of the inflation and people’s inability to spend on entertainment as much as they used to. Better times are coming and that means more money. No doom and gloom.

[MrDead]

You can fix that from removing the Epic exclusivity.

[MetroidFREAK21]

They're finally getting my money once I get my preorder for the PS5 physical version

[RhinoGamer88]

My worst game of 2023. Walking simulator with a find the clue on a photo board gameplay loop. zzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

[DOMination-]

Alan Wake only sold 1.4 million as an exclusive during X360 peak and was marketed pretty heavily by the Xbox team upon release. And 3.2 million in total since with PC/PS and re-releases.

This is nothing to do with a few hardcores on N4G refusing to buy it because its digital-only and everything to do with it just not being as popular as people like to think it is.

Remedy seem to be unlucky though. They consistently make games that are critical hits but never seem to resonate commercially. I wonder why that is?

[Elda]

No matter what it's evident there is still a market for physical copies of video games. AW2 not releasing physically more than likely hurt sales of the game. The same thing may happen to Black Myth Wukong.

[InUrFoxHole]

Give it a shot. It's a great game

[gleepot]

Well yeah. It wasn't good.

[esherwood]

I know sweat baby inc made me not want to support. Maybe focus on making the best game possible and not the most ‘inclusive’

[PhillyDonJawn]

They were better off putting it on gamepass

[jimtendo1983]

And it sucked

[jeromeface]

I was gonna buy it, until the physical release debacle, I bought a ps5 with a disk drive for a reason. It's still on my list to get but I'm in no rush.

[hiawa23]

Such a great game. Love it.

[Neonridr]

such a shame, what a fabulous game and my personal GOTY for 2023. For those of you holding off, I urge you to play it. It's so well crafted.

[Knightofelemia]

For one they are offering Alan Wake 1 with Alan Wake 2. I all ready have Alan Wake 1 I don't need a second copy. Just give me Alan Wake 2 by itself. Also the hype for the game has come and gone and yes there are people out there like me who do still like to collect physical. Give me a physical copy at launch I would have grabbed it. As of right now I am yet again avoiding Alan Wake 2 because I don't want another copy of Alan Wake 1. When Alan Wake 2 is sold by itself then I will grab the physical copy of the game. I all ready have enough games on my preorder list Alan Wake 2 is just not on my list again I don't want a second copy of Alan Wake 1.

[MADGameR]

Those digital sales SURE worked magic for you didn't it Remedy?

[TheColbertinator]

No Steam version
No physical disc version on consoles.
Remedy is not listening

[DustMan]

I think a lot of people just won't use the Epic Online Store at all. If It'd seen a simultaneous release on steam and console I think the numbers would be a hell of a lot better. I'm honestly hunting for deals whenever something pops up on steam just so I can have it there rather than on Epic. Epic just isn't as mod friendly.

[esherwood]

Wasn’t to interested to begin with and especially when I saw sweet baby Inc