Alan Wake 2 Yet to Recoup Dev, Marketing Expenses as Tencent Raises Stake

AW2 had really poor marketing, the game is too weird for the mainstream, lack of Steam and it is generally not a very good "GAME". It is a good youtube movie.

Choice to go digital only worked out well..........

Damnnn man this is a top 10 game for me so I'm sad it's not a financial success for them, and that more people are playing it. If you're reading this and you're considering it, pull the trigger and buy it- this game is spectacular!

@Realist totally agree 👍🏻. And every man and his dog say that digital only is the future🙄. I think sales would higher if they had chosen a physical release as well because lots of gamers love physical ( I know, shocking right!!)

Thats a shame because the game is so good. At least on my top 3 last year. Cant wait for Control 2 though!

This isn’t unusual at all, it’s just that Remedy are being very open about it to investors. I feel like the random video game player has no idea how many games never even make a profit after years and they’d be shocked by it.

Just a reminder, this is Remedy’s fastest selling game ever, and will be their highest selling game ever eventually.

That's what you get for going digital only, I expect a physical release by the end of this year.

Maybe make games cheaper? Less graphically intense? Though honestly I'm sure the tail on this will be long as it goes on discounts over the years. But if games understandably need to make a profit faster then make them cheaper to make, firstly by making the graphics less fancy. Sometimes we can't afford nice things and maybe the video game industry needs to realize that.

I'm not surprised, the game is very arthouse and a passion project, not necessarily concerned with mass market appeal. Also why no physical copies, ever? I think that also affected the games sales. I've skipped it, despite all the good press, if I postulate on the 'why' for me, even when it comes to a singleplayer game, I'm drawn to RPG's, games I can play multiple times with different builds or that I'll spend a 100hrs in. Alan Wake 2 represents a dying breed of singleplayer title that is 15-20hrs, one and done. That also might've been something to do it, in the world dominated by GAAS, also.

And this is what I knew would happen when they first announced digital only. Alan Wake was already a niche thriller game to begin with and cutting off potential customers was a massive mistake. It doesn't matter if your game reviews well, the negative reaction for 'no physical version' before release far outweighs the positive.

The people talking about physical really need to understand some maths around physical sales. If the break even point for AWII is 1.5M units digital only then if it was also available physical and physical sales were 50% then the break even point would now be around 1.9m units. (Physical games generate much lower revenue per sale to the publisher/developer).

For a game that doesn’t have a broad mainstream appeal that’s a big increase in total sales needed. Is there really 400k+ players that would buy physical AWII at full price that will simply not buy a digital copy at all? Highly doubtful imo.

Remedy is such a talented developer. I think if they go more towards what sells in the market with the same passion, such as their upcoming control live-service multiplayer game, (I know core gamers don't like to hear this but its true) their efforts will be much more properly recognized provided the remedy quality holds.

As for digital, it's obvious they're trying to get more long term sales with the lack of a second hand option since control had limited sales at the start but a very long term tail. And ofcourse, lack of steam kills the pc market, though it's understandable given epic is the publisher. Just hope they put the live service game on steam next time.

@Realist
The uncomfortable truth for you is that physical sales pale in comparison to digital sales in this day and age. Plus physical has lower returns due to having to factor in costs of distribution and stores taking cuts, so economically it's making less and less sense as time goes on for companies to go physical especially as game development budgets continue to balloon.

I really love this game and platinum it on ps5. Sad the sales kinda bad. Just release a physical edition remedy and see it will help and boost the sale. I read tons of comments that say wont buy this game unless they release physical edition

I wonder how much not having a physical version hurt them.. I still want to play this game but waiting for a significant price drop. Games are too expensive these days and I rarely buy games day 1 anymore.

@ChrisDeku Physical is only worth it when they launch a complete/definitive DLC included in disc collectors set/LRG edition. Those usually have decent profit mark ups. Otherwise physical is absolutely irrelevant right now.
The overall marketing was just pretty non-existent with the occasional trailer dropping every two months.

Despite the hugely misleading digital/physical splits that are regularly reported, new releases often sell at least as well physically in their launch window. Whilst on PC, Epic have a tiny percentage of the market share and releasing exclusively on it is guaranteed to severely impact your sales potential.

Overall it's a good game but no surprise it's struggled to sell given their own self imposed limitations

@breakneck physical isn't even close to being irrelevant. Last year in the UK, FIFA or whatever it's called these days still sold a third of their games physically, Hogwarts was 44%, then Spider-Man 2 was 54% physical and God of War Ragnarok sold 76% physically.

@ChrisDeku Honestly, because the game is digital only, I've been hesitant in buying it because I know I'd just delete if from my storage as soon as I'm done with it. And I don't like doing that, especially not if I pay full price for a game. Which is why I'd rather play a digital only game like Alan Wake II on Game Pass or PS+ Extra so that I at least won't feel as bad when I delete the game. In other words, I would be one of the persons who wouldn't buy the game at all. But if they had released it physically, then I would've happily paid full price for it at launch.

Put it on a disc and I will buy it, would have day one too had it released with one (take the full £70 too). Judging by the comments I am not the only one, so there is a few more sales!

@Realist Exactly. I know I would have bought it if it was released on physical

Only digital f-ed it up. Also, they could have tried harder with marketing.

I don't think the game is good as the first one, it's weird that most of the time you're playing not as alan wake, and the gameplay is worse compared to other horror titles like resident evil 4 remake. Also digital only plus epic store only is a death sentence for any games, they should make ps5 physical version and steam version day one.

@carlos82 Can you cite your source? I'm more than happy to be proven wrong since I'm a big advocate for physical still existing,

@Realist I was just thinking this! It's the only reason I haven't bought it and I wonder if I'm the only one or if loads of people are the same as me 🤔

it’s a shame it’s not made it’s budget back one of my favourite games of last year

Release that physical edition and I'll buy it.

@breakneck sure
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/top-20-uk-video-game-sales-are-38-physical?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed

I'm just one nobody, but speaking for me only I would have bought it at full price if they had released a physical edition.

Waiting for that physical release... will buy at full price.

I'd have bought this game had it been released in a physical format. There's simply no way I am spending £50 on a digital game.

Seeing the recently leaked list of PSN digital sales, it was a clear exaggeration and certain narrative pushed that physical was over.

Not having a physical on storefronts/available on retailers website as one of the GOTY contenders is self sabotaging free marketing at the same time denying the physical market..

@carlos82 It should be noted that the data includes all digital codes as retail sales and are included with physical sales. This is especially large for pack-in games like God of War: Ragnarok. Also, the UK is much larger in physical sales than regions like NA and Non-Japan Asia.

Games also trend more towards digital as they get older. For example RDR2 being 83.3% digital. Control was 90% digital in worldwide sales from its second year onwards.

I understand the hate for the digital-only release but like... this game was worth ignoring that principle for me. Bought it on PC too just to show my support, it's so impeccably well made.

@Realist
I'm still waiting for that physical release... 😔
On articles like this one it would be great to see a poll on who's still waiting for the physical release or not

Thinking back to the PS360 era, I had absolutely zero interest in the original. Never understood what people saw in it. That it got a sequel, hey, sure, guess it sold well enough. But again, from everything I saw of it, I could only muster extreme apathy. Seems that was a more widespread sentiment than anticipated given the noise made by what has turned out to be a vocal minority of fans.

I'll be honest, even if AW2 had been released in physical format (as it should have been IMO), I wouldn't have purchased it right away or even within a year of its release (I literally have no disposable income at the moment).

I just hope Remedy (and Epic Games) realise the importance of physical format and consider releasing AW2 physically in the near future.

I'll buy it on a disk and then most likely sell it to someone who, same as me, did not want to pay the full price for a digital license. This way they'll at least have money from me and two (or more) people will enjoy the game.

Or, I'll play it on PS+ in a few years and they won't see my money.
Or, I'll buy it digital in a few years when it drops to a 10-20 USD mark.

I'm not rich – I'll wait. And there are millions of gamers doing exactly the same as me. Yes, they don't get full price from all of us, but isn't it better getting one full price physical sell in the release window, then getting 2-3 discounted sells digitally down the line?

Like many people here I'm waiting for a physical release and if it doesn't get one I'll just wait for a bargain bin digital sale price.

For some reason I was considerably less interested in the sequel from the get go so the wait is easy.

@ChrisDeku for games like RDR2 and in general those that are years old, they tend to sell far better digitally due to the sales, whilst things like digital codes aren't a big deal, especially as they don't even exist for Playstation anymore.

When looking at games in their launch windows specifically, they're regularly closely matched, even Sony's own information puts digital at 66% overall including games which are digital only, so it's not just a UK thing

I feel the damage here is probably less due to no physical, but that it released on pc exclusively on Epic’s store. Still, if Remedy would like my money, I’ll be down for a physical ps5 version. Assuming it’s all on the disc and not some Ubisoft *****.

@carlos82 Wow that is fascinating. More interesting that first party playstation is doing so much business physically. Explains why they're pushing those 80 dollar digital deluxe editions.

I’d have bought it already if it had a physical release.

Sure glad Remedy made that “money-saving” decision to go digital only. It saved me money for sure!

That's weird I was told that 1Million sold, and is MULTIPLATFORM, is a 'success' but that FF16 sold 3Million on PS5 alone is a 'fLoP'.

I think a few of the folks in these comments have hit the nail on the head. Its an art-house game with a blockbuster budget. That was always going to be a hard equation to balance.

I have it sitting on my drive waiting to be booted for the first time from the £20 Epic Christmas sale; but it doesn't feel like a priority - and thats the issue; art-house is great for those moments, but its not pizza; its not what you could have every week.

@carlos82 66% is very high. That’s also units, not revenue. A publisher doesn’t actually care about units, they care about revenue. A Physical games will net them about 60% of the revenue of an equivalent digital sale. So 66% of units is around 80% of the revenue.

Accessing that 20% of revenue also opens you up to other issues, like second hand market and easier game sharing. These will reduce overall sales and revenue to the publisher.

So at 66% units physical is probably still worth it but it’s pretty questionable. AWII is a multi-platform game however. Xbox is way higher than 66% digital and PC is 100% digital if you count codes in a useless box as digital. For a multi-platform game the worldwide digital rate might be like 80-90% lifetime. Well over 90% revenue.

AWII is not only multi-platform but they are not a company with strong ties to PS and there is not a big userbase there. Control(which was the first remedy game to release on PS since Max Payne 2 twenty years ago) never even charted in the PSN top 20 charts in its debut month. Control was over 90% digital in 2020 which was it’s peak sales year(both stats from Remedy)

I think there are a lot of key issues with this release. Alan Wake originally was successful but is still a relatively niche franchise and felt like you needed to have the history of the series to get into it. Secondly, no Steam and Physical release hurt sales but more than that, it hurt visibility. Seeing it on shop fronts like Amazon or Steam makes it a big deal and gives more chance of the zeitgeist. Lastly, and related to this, marketing was poor.

I would have bought a physical edition.

Just make a new Control on a disc this time.

I doubt a Physical release would have made that much difference. Some of the Digital purchasers would likely have bought Physical instead with much lower profit margins (due to manufacturing, distribution etc costs as well as Retailer competition bringing the price lower) so would need even more people to buy to break even.

No game to me is worth that cost. Red Dead Redemption 2 for example was a much 'bigger' game, equally as stunning for its time with incredible attention to detail in its presentation and animations, yet cost me a LOT less only a few years ago. I can play Control (Ultimate Edition) for next to nothing, if not 'free' on a sub service, so why buy this when I have so many other Games to play for a LOT less money and this will be cheap in a sale or come to a sub service soon enough...

@Pranwell Look at the digital trol gloating if i want physical its my right if you a Ubisoft future where the developers can pull the game away from under your nose thats your right.

I chose to support Remedy and purchased this at full price digitally, something I rarely do. I did my part. Unfortunately, I also felt the game was a real step back for Remedy. Perhaps the product just isn’t resonating with enough players to justify such high development costs. It’s hard to manufacture an audience.

Console Gamers: "The game looks great, I would have bought it if were physical"
PC Gamers: "The game looks great, I would have bought it if came to Steam."
Me: "Game is great. I buy great games."

Be more like me.

A game like this will sell for years to come. I wouldn't worry so much.

Remedy deserves all the success they can get, but the fact that sales of Alan Wake 2 are slow isn't surprising. I put the blame for a lack of physical release on the publisher and Remedy just had to spew out BS, just like they had to for Control Ultimate Edition.

Regardless, I'd say the biggest issue is the fact that it had a horrible release date, coming out around several other major releases. Of course it was going to get lost in the shuffle a bit, and then the lack of a physical release gets put on top of that (even if it made a minimal difference).

Honestly, I enjoyed AW2 for the most part, but I didn't love it as much as most reviewers did. After replaying AW1 and willing myself through the endless repetitive combat encounters, AW2 was a definite improvement. But the whole 'is it real, is it in another reality' element started to grate on me the deeper I got into the game, and I kind of rushed through faster than I usually do just to get it over with. Still, Remedy put their heart and soul into it, and it is genuinely disappointing to me to keep hearing about how much it didn't sell, because overall it is a finely crafted game.

What a shame. So far in my play through, it’s an amazing game. Sam Lake is one of the best video game writers in existence, possibly the best.

I may be in the minority but I just don't care for the game very much to go out and buy it, physical/digital debate or otherwise.

I would be happy to pay full price for this if I could buy a disc, as I really enjoyed Alan Wake Remastered. Quite simple.
Pushsquare, please do a poll so Remedy can see how much money they actually lost based on their decision to go digital only!

Like many others. Waiting for physical release or big discount if I'm buying digital only.

Still waiting for my BG3 copy to arrive in the mail.

Please no more comments so this stays at 69.... wait... dammit

Make a physical edition. And a special physical edition.

Hear me out: Physical release.

@Stragen8 this. Also waiting for my BG3 to arrive. #ForeverPhysical

@UltimateOtaku91 pretty please!

I have no problem buying digital games where I feel i feel it offers value for money. However, i've chosen not buy this game as it was digital only.

All the arguments for how expensive game are to develop and distribution cost etc are publisher issues. What about being pro-choice and pro consumer?

I no longer buy games on day 1 as I no longer wish to support publishers who release broken games. Besides, once the necessary patches have been released, the digital copy is very likely to be on sale.

@LtSarge Exactly, it's blatantly greedy to have the full price for store games. Demon's Souls is still 80€ in the german PS store to this day.

That releasing only digitally really hurt them, but im sure they knew the risk going in.

To me, and probably a lot of other people, a product’s name or title is very important. I never picked up the first Alan Wake because it’s called Alan Wake. It sounds like an accountant simulator game.

Same might be said for FF7 Rebirth’s lack of blockbuster sales. The name doesn’t really clarify what it is in the same way that FF7 Remake did.

Don’t even get me started on WiiU.

I really have to disagree with the "no physical edition hurt them" comments. Sure, they could have what I would estimate another 300k copies sold. But that does probably only makes a dent on the profit side of things, as the related costs or lost in profits are not to be overlooked.

And I do not mean the costs of the disc or box itself. A lot of planning goes into a physical edition. They would need more staff (maybe even a lot more with an own sales team) or a distribution partner (publishing partner) which wants their own cut. And (online) retail, especially with this being more special interest, would have some tough conditions to negotiate. And no, just selling it online by their own isn't the quick and easy answer for this either (another topic of its own).

I also find the usual "buing it in a sale" and "broken games" comments a bit sad. Not everything that is AAA or a high priced game is Call of Duty ...

Epic exclusive, newgen only, no physical,,although for me i buy all digital.
Hope it sells in the long run, not everyone buys full price, ain't cheap nowadays.

Put ya Roblox down teenagers and go buy this

Remedy after MP 1 and 2 simply suck. Alan wake was barely passable game,second one is pure and utter dog....t,David Cage games have more gameplay then this product,Remedy will make profit when I became millionaire and that's never !

they could recoup the cost with a physical version and having a deluxe and merch ..

a lot games get bought as gifts and for collectors

@Yousef- same lol. I love control(so much)platinum both the game together with AW2. And im so hyped for control sequel and max payne remake. Recently i play quantum break on steam deck. And really enjoyed it. Just love remedy games

@GamingFan4Lyf lol. Same with me. Dont care if it digital only as long the game is good. But each to their own i guess.

@BlaizeV "Epic have a tiny percentage of the market share and releasing exclusively on it is guaranteed to severely impact your sales potential."

Unfortunately, they had no choice but to release it exclusively... Epic funded the complete development of this game.

@BlaizeV Unfortunately, Fancy graphics are a major selling point for Remedy. Without the fancy graphics, their games are just "Meh" gameplay wise with a confusing story... Quantum Break is still a visual spectacle to play through 7 Years later.

I can’t believe this… it might be my favorite game of all time, without a doubt the best game this generation. They story was truly amazing, I had screaming out loud moments through it all. Still listening to the sounds track, and patiently waiting for the janitors song to drop on Spotify 🥲🫶🏻

@amatmulisha Truly amazing. I rarely do New Game+ for games, but Alan Wake 2 had me hooked on Day 1 and continued to hook me after The Final Draft came out.

I will dive back in when the DLC drops, too!

@AverageGamer that is your opinion. I enjoyed alan wake 2/control gameplay. Similar with max payne and quantum break. It’s not that bad like you said.

@GamingFan4Lyf i love survival horror game. But rarely play any same horror game twice. Maybe because the tension/anxiety. Yeah I can’t wait to jump back to AW2 for the dlc soon

@DylanP my favourite track is lost at sea. The song that ahti sing is kinda nice too.

I'm still stuck in the subway level of AW2, and haven't played it since november ... It's just to damn weird and the save slots etc. is hopeless and not being able to restart a level is not good... at all.

thats what happens when you dont listen to people wanting physical copys

@LtSarge They always talk about digital sales but they leave one things out like digital only stuff that is added to make the customer believe people want to be digital only.

Ill buy it at a sale below a tenner sounds right. Digital holds no value so why pay the full price.

I don't even have a PS5 yet (holding out for the Pro), but I'm a massive fan, and if this had a physical edition I would have bought it day one, as I have for other franchises I follow. Digital only was unfortunately a deal breaker, and I will buy it discounted at a later date.

Never go full digital, simple........

@PSme It will be the future once the weird obsession with bits of plastic dies, the sooner the physical edition weirdos give up the better

Just adding to the voices surrounding physical releases, I really wanted to buy physical at release but decided to wait for a sale since digital only. Still haven’t bought it yet.

AW2 had a lot working against it.

-Epic game store exclusivity nerfed PC sales
-Lack of physical version lost at least some PS5 sales
-Budget was way too high relative to reasonable sales expectations

The third point is really the kicker. It looks amazing and the devs should be commended for it, but from a business perspective you can't justify the expense for such a niche title. It was always going to be extremely difficult to profit on a niche game with a AAA budget.

Unfortunate but happens. Also physical may not be great for sales, distribution and other factors so they can be worse off yes but it can be a factor for discoverability. I may follow the news but there is times I don't see a game in the news or digital store fronts but did physical. Not just retro either.

That and expectations for sales too I guess.

If a game is up front sure, but if it's buried a fair bit digitally or I don't even know what I'm looking for when it comes to retro games when browsing wikipedia, metacritc or youtube for retro titles I come across a game physical more often I have never heard of then I have via the online sources then I can look them up at the physical store or later if I am unsure about it.

I mean if it's a more AAA/AA or otherwise retro then sure but if it's a store with modern games and it's an Indie I have never heard of and it got a physical then yeah it's past a lot to get to physical for me to go oh ok never heard of this but have many others that are digital only and part of other genres/publishers/self publishing but I heard about them in the news or via communities more then others.

Digital you can but it depends how deep people go with the digital storefront menus/sales/categories/etc and how much Sony/Microsoft pushes it on the main pages of the storefront or in the Xbox case the ads/achievements part of the dashboard that changes. On a physical shelf you don't have that same discoverability issue on the bargain bin shelf/display or the NEW shelves it's clear what's there immediately then layers and layers of menus digitally and whatever is up front being pushed most.

Marketing, Epic store and more played a part and Remedy make very artsy interesting games hence their cult following but some studios have been upgraded to AAA then AA cult following status. That doesn't always become a good thing but in many ways it does happen.

Physical and steam