Remedy Entertainment haven’t so much as uttered a single word in regards to the sales figures for their latest release, Alan Wake 2, which is already being sold at a massive 50% discount not even two months following its release.
Alan Wake 2 or otherwise known by avid gaming enthusiasts as “Alan Walk 2” or “Alan Woke 2” is a half-arsed sequel to 2010’s Alan Wake, the game being a narrative driven title seemingly sparce of any actual “gameplay” elements, and obviously given the sheer silence from its developers in regards to copies sold it was a miserable flop.
And I for one cannot understand why the game would otherwise sell so terribly, given how the game was another marvelous wonder to be exclusively locked to Epic Games’ and their Tencent-backed storefront platform, ignoring Valve’s Steam store for your PC release is a surefire way of ensuring that consumers proactively avoid your product.
As for the game itself, well you’ll spend half the time playing as the co-protagonist, a woman named Saga Anderson, who to my knowledge ended up being race-swapped to be portrayed as a Black woman, obviously as a means of appeasing the likes of Vanguard and Blackrock in regards to maximizing ESG output rather than crafting an enjoyable game.
Alan Wake 2 is notably one of the larger games that was made in collaboration with Sweet Baby Inc, the go-to woke compliance firm who worked with Remedy Entertainment on Alan Wake 2 in regards to Character Arc, Voice and Sensitivity Reading.
So, Remedy ostracized PC players by taking Tim Sweeny’s money in exchange for a limited time exclusivity deal for the Epic Game Store, the game itself being a bland and boring narrative driven “movie-like” game, where players spend half their time playing as a race-swapped Black woman instead of Alan Wake in a game called Alan Wake 2.
Alongside the piss poor PC performance of the game itself and its absurdly high PC requirements, the game did not get an actual physical release of any kind, it was all digital.
I can’t understand why it flopped, however Remedy could at least take solace with the fact that their ESG cinematic marvel, which released on October 27th, received several nominations as the ESG Awards and shockingly enough it had actually won numerous times.
Alan Wake 2, despite releasing barely over a month before the actual Game Awards were held, was nominated for countless awards and it actually won categories such as Best Art Direction, Narrative and Direction at TGA 2023.
The Game Awards has always been viewed as a joke from the actual gaming community, it’s an orchestrated event that’s in essence a commercialized entity that aims to be as non-political as possible, which is why Hogwarts Legacy did not receive a single nomination and a literal walking simulator disguised as an Alan Wake sequel managed to receive eight nominations this year.
Regardless, concerns were raised in regards to the financial failure of Alan Wake 2 when Mat Piscatella from Circana reported that the game didn’t secure a spot among the top 100 played titles on Xbox and PlayStation. Notably, Epic Games sales were not factored into the assessment.
In the year 2023, Remnant 2 achieved a remarkable feat by selling 1 million copies within a week. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 managed to shift five million units after just 11 days and Hogwarts Legacy has sold over 12 million copies this year.
Expectations were high for Alan Wake 2 to at least sell at least a couple million copies, given how games such as the aforementioned Remnant 2 can more or less be viewed as being “AA” titles, while Remedy Entertainment have had their name out there for countless years, especially for an IP such as Alan Wake no less.
Their previous release, Control, a brand new IP recently crossed over the three million sales threshold, with Control launching back in August of 2019.
According to Ampere Analysis, the game is estimated to have sold approximately 850,000 copies on consoles, which is abysmal at best. It falls short of expectations expected. Since the studio has not officially announced reaching the 1 million milestone, it suggests that the total sales across all platforms might be just shy of this significant figure, meaning its PC sales, exclusive to the Epic Game Store may be less than 150,000.
And to put the final nail in the coffin for Remedy’s latest, Alan Wake 2 is currently available to purchase on the Epic Game Store for just $26.79 after applying their Holiday Sale coupon, the game itself is already for sale with a 20% discount however combined with Epic’s holiday coupon of 33% off you can already buy Alan Wake 2 for practically 50% off.
For added insult to injury, for a limited time only, until January 10th to be precise, if you purchase Alan Wake 2 on the Epic Game Store, not only are you basically saving 50% from its initial asking price but you will also receive a free copy of Alan Wake Remastered as well.
Remedy seem rather desperate for you to buy this game.
I for one am happy that this game has bombed, I wish to congratulate the wonderful team at Remedy Entertainment, Sweet Baby Inc. and Sam Lake for this wonderful achievement.
You guys earned it!
