390°

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.

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theouterhaven.net
Tacoboto104d ago

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_vulgaris104d ago

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.

Cacabunga103d ago

Time to release it physical and drop this digital only crap

badz149103d ago

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

BeHunted104d ago (Edited 104d ago )

"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.

LucasRuinedChildhood103d ago

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.

BehindTheRows103d ago (Edited 103d ago )

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.

FinalFantasyFanatic103d ago

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.

Amplitude103d ago (Edited 103d ago )

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 ____

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gold_drake104d ago

for me?

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

BeHunted104d ago (Edited 104d ago )

"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_drake103d ago

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.

shinoff2183103d ago (Edited 103d ago )

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.

BeHunted103d ago

@Shinoff2183

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

Smellsforfree103d ago

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.

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-Foxtrot103d ago

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

Petebloodyonion103d ago

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?

THEzRude103d ago

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

I_am_Batman103d ago

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.

Knightofelemia103d ago

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.

ModsDoBetter93d ago

Source?
Or is this more made up ThezRude nonsense?

THEzRude93d ago

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.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 93d ago
+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 93d ago
jznrpg103d ago (Edited 103d ago )

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.

tagzskie103d ago

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.

shinoff2183103d ago (Edited 103d ago )

I'd be down

-Foxtrot103d ago

They need a physical edition, simply put

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

blackblades103d ago (Edited 103d ago )

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.

Show all comments (55)
230°

No Steam And Physical Release, Alan Wake 2 Not Profiting Was Inevitable

Choosing Epic over Steam and antagonizing the entire physical media fanbase, it's no wonder the masterpiece Alan Wake 2 didn't make a profit.

thorstein15d ago (Edited 15d ago )

I asked for this game as a gift. My wife couldn't find it at Gamestop, Amazon, or anywhere else.

I didn't realize it was digital only, I just figured it sold out because of the reviews and how good it looks.

Most consumers don't read gaming news daily, how would they know it's digital only?

Plus, outside of seeing it on Jackfrags YouTube channel, I hadn't seen much in the way of marketing.

Dirtnapstor14d ago

It's a really good game. I platted this one on the PS5. Well worth your time exploring this universe.

Jingsing15d ago

Unfortunately Remedy has become a bit of a nasty studio over this past decade, You just need to look at their business decisions and other projects they attempted. They are not pro consumer at all.

Petebloodyonion15d ago

You know that it's Epic Games that funded and published the game right?

CrimsonWing6915d ago (Edited 15d ago )

Yea, people are kind of dumb. I mean, no offense to @Jingsing up there, I know that’s blunt but it reminds me of Bayonetta 2 when that got announced and it was a Nintendo exclusive. It’s exclusive because f*cking Nintendo funded the development. But people were all like f*ck Sega for sh*tting on their fans when in actuality the game never would’ve gotten made if Nintendo didn’t straight up pay for the development.

Alan Wake 1 was not a massive seller. In fact, correct me if I’m wrong, but it underperformed and that’s why a proper sequel never got made until now where Epic literally paid for the game to be developed… but you got people saying, Remedy isn’t pro consumer because this game is Epic exclusive 🤦‍♂️

anast15d ago

They did this to save money, but it didn't work.

Skuletor15d ago

Will be interesting to see if they try the same thing for the Max Payne remake(s). You'd think they won't but people continue to surprise me.

anast15d ago

I think they could do some kind of special edition physical release. This way the crowd that has been with this game since the beginning would have the option to buy a physical disk. They would sell more too.

Charlieboy33314d ago

@anast No, it needs a normal physical release.....not some bullshit 'special edition' physical release. This way we will be able to easily get a physical copy for if we want, instead of having to mission to own some kind of limited version. That's not actually gonna boost physical sales now is it?

Chocoburger15d ago

I wonder if they've learned their lesson? Who am I kidding, of course no gaming company does at this point. Keep making those mistakes.

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510°

Alan Wake 2 Still Hasn't Earned Back Its Budget

Remedy has released its financial statement for the first quarter of 2024, and despite strong sales, Alan Wake 2 has yet to recoup its development costs.

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techraptor.net
-Foxtrot32d ago

Well. They know what they gotta do…

toxic-inferno32d ago

Exactly.

With every article like this, I becomr more convinced that an announcement is inevitable. Hoping for something around the time of the game's 1-year anniversary.

-Foxtrot32d ago

I want to believe they are just hanging on to try and get the last drop out of the digital market but another part of me thinks it’s just spite at this point, not wanting to admit their business move was a f***** terrible decision

They made out it was because they wanted to offer it cheaper to us but me and others would have gladly paid the standard for physical. Even a collectors edition would have been nice to buy.

toxic-inferno32d ago

Absolutely. What would the harm have been? Offer the digital version at the lower price they want, and a "Collector's Edition" with some fairly naff additions for 50% more. I'd have gone for it without question.

Cacabunga32d ago

physical release or go home Remedy.

_Decadent_Descent32d ago

Bringing it to Steam would definitely help too. Although I suspect getting a physical release is probably more likely, and even that doesn't look good.

neutralgamer199232d ago

Waiting on steam release otherwise no buy. And I would double dip to get physical for ps5 or XSX but remedy have to first admit there is a problem before a solution is made available

darthv7232d ago

i think its an Epic game though.... does Epic release games on Steam?

notachance32d ago

definitely waiting for steam version, I never buy a game on another storefront at all.. even gamepass games I'd just try for a bit then buy the steam version if I like it.

Yui_Suzumiya32d ago

Yeah, I'm waiting on a Steam version as well.

wesnytsfs31d ago

Not sure at this point a physical release makes sense. Would you even recoup enough lost money on the costs to get the game released physically. Mots who wanted to play the game did not sure you would sell enough copies to recoup the costs to get the game out physically.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 31d ago
babadivad32d ago

IMHO, it just wasn't that good. It's not as good as QB or Control.

TheEroica32d ago

Exclusive games.... The cancer of modern gaming. Only corporate friendly husks root for exclusive games as a model.

seanpitt2332d ago

What were they expecting.. release digital only and make there money back, come on! they shot themselves in the foot alienating all the fans of physical media.. now the hype has gone down it will be difficult to shift copies now even if they do release disks. Only way of making extra $ release on ps plus

wesnytsfs31d ago

Blows my mind someone would pass on obtaining a game they wanted to play just so you can have the case and a game disc that is already out of date to the current live version. The boxes upon boxes and totes full of game and game related accs and hardware when I moved made me grateful for all the digital stuff I had.

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darthv7232d ago

I bet it would if they just pressed a few discs and sold them at retail.

monkey60232d ago

I still haven't bought it. Would have if it was physical though

TheProfessional32d ago

Alan Wake 2 is also just not that good. Its the sequel to a good but not great game to begin with and the case board "gameplay" was terrible and there wasn't enough combat. Also the live action stuff looks really cheap and Sam Lake didn't need to put himself into alan wake 2 for no reason.

shinoff218332d ago (Edited 32d ago )

Lol. I imagine there's still alot of people that buy physicals. Or atleast see what kind of new games are out by what they see in real stores. This is on them. Idda paid 70 day one physical. Now I won't pay more then 15 for it

Crows9032d ago

You don't have to imagine
...still at least 40% of sales come from physical.

Amplitude32d ago (Edited 32d ago )

I'd imagine significantly more than 40% of PC gamers also only buy games on Steam.
Maybe a crazy remastered Steam release will launch alongside the RTX 6070 or something once the Epic Store's gone for good. EGS is basically a Fortnite launcher that also sells games with an unreasonably amount of missing features. Alan Wake and Fortnite have absolutely nothing in common either. I can't imagine this sold well and there's no way Epic would ever fund something this big ever again. Basically though; when Fort dies, EGS dies and I hope a Steam release will come after so this game can get the audience it deserves.

I bought a 360 for AW1 and have been waiting years to play AW2 but I just haven't had the ability to buy it yet. I was gonna "steal" it but I just felt too terrible about it half way through the intro. I've since just stopped caring. I'm patient

Good-Smurf32d ago

This game and Sonic Dream Team needs physical release fast.

Show all comments (78)
70°

Remedy Makes Changes to Core Management Team, Wants to Grow Alan Wake & Control in Larger Franchises

Remedy has made a couple of changes to its core management team with the goal to grow Alan Wake and Control into larger franchises.

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wccftech.com
Jingsing36d ago

Changes like not being anti consumer? putting out Alan Wake Remastered on disc but not the sequel?

ElaBosak23d ago

No one cares about games on discs.

ElaBosak23d ago

Good for them! Can't wait for Control and Max Payne remakes.