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[Duchess]

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.

techraptor.net

Opinion: a physical release would've helped to bring those numbers up, I'm sure.

 

[Skifi28]

They really did everything they could to try and sabotage the game. It's probably on Epic rather than Remedy, but still.

 

[Pakoe]

majority probably waiting for a potential Steam release.

 

[rofif]

Terrible game. I was very disappointed by the loud obnoxious jump scares, lack of combat, constant gatherering if crap with full inventory and bad puzzles. The gameplay loop consists of slow walking and puzzles. It’s barely engaging compared to other survival horror games. And the never ending Sam lake masturbation. I even liked the game before … he puts himself in every part of the game and that’s kinda almost fine. But the story is just trash. The new character is trash and the ending is trash.
And on top of that, they just port it to ps5 by slapping low on pc settings. No rt, no alternative solution, grainy war that doesn’t work and sub 30 performance with worst fsr2 this gen. And there controls are terrible on ps5. Worst dead zones and sensitivity ever.

I am usually not that critical and this game got some amazing setting, location forests and so on… but you end up pretending to be scared, pretending to be detective, pretending to be engaged. And spend hours listening to talking heads in your mind room.

I will get hate for this and I absolutely don’t get the critical acclaimed hype this game got… and I can’t sell it because it’s only on psn

 

[Zheph]

how bad is it? I was lurking at it but seems its bombing pretty hard... I played the remaster when it came out and I tho it aged horribly but the new one?

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

 

[J3nga]

Terrible game. I was very disappointed by the loud obnoxious jump scares, lack of combat, constant gatherering if crap with full inventory and bad puzzles. The gameplay loop consists of slow walking and puzzles. It’s barely engaging compared to other survival horror games. And the never ending Sam lake masturbation. I even liked the game before … he puts himself in every part of the game and that’s kinda almost fine. But the story is just trash. The new character is trash and the ending is trash.
And on top of that, they just port it to ps5 by slapping low on pc settings. No rt, no alternative solution, grainy war that doesn’t work and sub 30 performance with worst fsr2 this gen. And there controls are terrible on ps5. Worst dead zones and sensitivity ever.

I am usually not that critical and this game got some amazing setting, location forests and so on… but you end up pretending to be scared, pretending to be detective, pretending to be engaged. And spend hours listening to talking heads in your mind room.

I will get hate for this and I absolutely don’t get the critical acclaimed hype this game got… and I can’t sell it because it’s only on psn

Hate? I agree with you, game has amazing presentation due to its budget but everything else is just underwhelming. I tried replaying it for the "new ending" but dropped it, doing countless boring walking sections and mind mapping mini game with Saga was unbearable for the 2nd time.

 

[Kupfer]

Opinion: a physical release would've helped to bring those numbers up, I'm sure.

At least from me they would have gotten 70€ x 0,7 (30% Sony/retail share? I don't know how much it is for physical), so 49€.
That's 49€ more than now and in the future, should it remain digital.

 

[SoraNoKuni]

Steam release would salvage the sales.

 

[TVexperto]

who would have guessed.... people want to play as alan wake...not some other character

 

[Fart Knight]

Guess not enough white bastards bought it

 

[SidViscous]

who would have guessed.... people want to play as alan wake...not some other character

Another white asshole deciding what I get to do, how I get to do it.

 

[Klosshufvud]

Terrible game. I was very disappointed by the loud obnoxious jump scares, lack of combat, constant gatherering if crap with full inventory and bad puzzles. The gameplay loop consists of slow walking and puzzles. It’s barely engaging compared to other survival horror games. And the never ending Sam lake masturbation. I even liked the game before … he puts himself in every part of the game and that’s kinda almost fine. But the story is just trash. The new character is trash and the ending is trash.
And on top of that, they just port it to ps5 by slapping low on pc settings. No rt, no alternative solution, grainy war that doesn’t work and sub 30 performance with worst fsr2 this gen. And there controls are terrible on ps5. Worst dead zones and sensitivity ever.

I am usually not that critical and this game got some amazing setting, location forests and so on… but you end up pretending to be scared, pretending to be detective, pretending to be engaged. And spend hours listening to talking heads in your mind room.

I will get hate for this and I absolutely don’t get the critical acclaimed hype this game got… and I can’t sell it because it’s only on psn

Absolutely agree with everything. Game felt so cheap and amateurish. Like the writers saw some episodes of True Detective and wanted to ape that but they lacked the actual competence to realize why True Detective worked. The game has zero atmosphere. It's all just random jump scares and random scenario shifts with zero coherence. If you can't build atmosphere and the whole game is just randomly being tugged from one place to another, it loses the whole appeal of being an atmospheric horror game. I preferred the first game. It had way better pacing and it took itself less seriously than this shit. And Sam Lake absolutely got his head up his ass these days.

 

[Thief1987]

who would have guessed.... people want to play as alan wake...not some other character

People want to play, and this "game" lacking very much in this aspect

 

[rofif]

who would have guessed.... people want to play as alan wake...not some other character

Yep. And she is a bad character. She is very stoic and uncharismatic. Ask her problems come and go away.
She is exactly what people who disliked forspoken wished for… Frey got bashed for having charisma and a character lol

 

[Mr Reasonable]

Google reckons the development and marketing budget was $70m - I wonder how many sales they had to hit to reach their break even point and when they expected to reach it.

Given how much I heard about AW2 in the press, I had assumed it was a bigger game than it's 1.3m sales suggest it is.

Shame, I didn't really like playing AW2 or Control, but I like the ideas. Hopefully they'll nail having fun gameplay next time. They've been doing a great job of world building for a while now, but the action seems under developed.

 

[rofif]

Google reckons the development and marketing budget was $70m - I wonder how many sales they had to hit to reach their break even point and when they expected to reach it.

Given how much I heard about AW2 in the press, I had assumed it was a bigger game than it's 1.3m sales suggest it is.

Shame, I didn't really like playing AW2 or Control, but I like the ideas. Hopefully they'll nail having fun gameplay next time. They've been doing a great job of world building for a while now, but the action seems under developed.

Yeah I disliked control too but it had good combat and ideas.
They already knew good games. That’s max Payne 1 and 2

 

[Arun1910]

Really good game IMO that built well on the first.

Having no physical copies probably didn't help at all with sales.

 

[Neolombax]

Kinda surprised, given generally favorable impressions by both press and players. Not my genre though, can't say anything about AW excites me.

 

[Xtib81]

That's fine, the game will have legs.

 

[Filben]

No surprise. It's a very niche game the same as Control is.

French and German people probably know the TV channel "Arte" – that's where a movie of the game would run on. Great artistic value but not something the mainstream would enjoy.

Even the most "mainstream" feature of the game isn't really that mainstream: the slow and deliberate shooting and action. Mix that with its way of storytelling and underrepresented forensic profiler mechanic and it was never meant to sell millions and millions.

It's like Bladerunner 2047 – highly praised but too few people actually watched it. And while I loved and rewatched it several times I can see why many people wouldn't watch it. Same goes for playing AW2.

 

[winjer]

No Steam release, no physical version for consoles.
No wonder it underperformed.

 

[YOU PC BRO?!]

I'm in agreement with the OP. As a fan I refused to buy primarily due to the game being digital only. Secondly, it was the Sweet Baby Inc. involvement - from that it was mainly the 50|50 protagonist split that bothered me. Seriously, only a sweet baby could reduce the main characters screen time to 50% in his own sequel. That just didn't seem all that appealing to me.

 

[TheSHEEEP]

majority probably waiting for a potential Steam release.

Exactly this.
Wait for the Steam release and then determine if it is a success or not.

EGS market share is too small to determine anything on PC.

 

[winjer]

I'm in agreement with the OP. As a fan I refused to buy primarily due to the game being digital only. Secondly, it was the Sweet Baby Inc. involvement - from that it was mainly the 50|50 protagonist split that bothered me. Seriously, only a sweet baby could reduce the main characters screen time to 50% in his own sequel. That just didn't seem all that appealing to me.

I forgot about the SBI thing.
The racist undertones in the game probably didn't help with the sales.

 

[GHound]

Exactly this.
Wait for the Steam release and then determine if it is a success or not.

EGS market share is too small to determine anything on PC.

There is no telling how long this could potentially be considering Epic published the game and we don't know what kind of contract they have.

 

[Barakov]

Another white asshole deciding what I get to do, how I get to do it.

 

[Wildebeest]

This is a game made for players 15 years ago. Today, people want horror games that are coop and have short sessions based on hunting for a goofy monster with no real purpose other than to bait it into doing something funny.

 

[TheSHEEEP]

There is no telling how long this could potentially be considering Epic published the game and we don't know what kind of contract they have.

Well, considering releases like this so far, one year is a fair assumption.
More would be very unusual.

 

[demigod]

Hilarious, folks were fighting me in previous thread saying Epic foot the bill. Guess they were WRONG.

No physical and no Steam killed the sales, good job Remedy. Since they decided to go woke, i’ll wait on a deep discount.

 

[FunkMiller]

Maybe hamstringing your sales channels isn’t the greatest path to success.

Who'd have thunk it?

 

[GHound]

Well, considering releases like this so far, one year is a fair assumption.
More would be very unusual.

It would be unusual if it were merely a store exclusivity deal like most of the deals done by Epic, but Epic is the actual publisher for this game. On consoles too.
That's also the case with the 2021 Alan Wake remaster that isn't available on Steam.

 

[TheSHEEEP]

It would be unusual if it were merely a store exclusivity deal like most of the deals done by Epic, but Epic is the actual publisher for this game. On consoles too.
That's also the case with the 2021 Alan Wake remaster that isn't available on Steam.

Hmmm, true enough.

Well, in that case Epic might just decide to let the game become a commercial failure.

Or eventually release on Steam.
The Steam thing is not a logical, business-driven issue for Sweeney, it seems purely emotional - therefore, he might just make the dumbest business moves in order to raise a middle finger towards Steam.

 

[Larxia]

Ohhh, no kidding?
- Don't do a physical release on consoles
- Make it an epic game Store Exclusive

"Why is it not selling?"

I swear, it feels like Remedy ALWAYS take the worst possible exclusivity deals, it's like its part of their DNA. Alan Wake flopped on 360 and I think sold better once it came to PC? Quantum break released on pc only on the WINDOWS STORE, and Control launched as an Epic Exclusive. They never have a proper healthy release that goes well.

 

[Roufianos]

Terrible game. I was very disappointed by the loud obnoxious jump scares, lack of combat, constant gatherering if crap with full inventory and bad puzzles. The gameplay loop consists of slow walking and puzzles. It’s barely engaging compared to other survival horror games. And the never ending Sam lake masturbation. I even liked the game before … he puts himself in every part of the game and that’s kinda almost fine. But the story is just trash. The new character is trash and the ending is trash.
And on top of that, they just port it to ps5 by slapping low on pc settings. No rt, no alternative solution, grainy war that doesn’t work and sub 30 performance with worst fsr2 this gen. And there controls are terrible on ps5. Worst dead zones and sensitivity ever.

I am usually not that critical and this game got some amazing setting, location forests and so on… but you end up pretending to be scared, pretending to be detective, pretending to be engaged. And spend hours listening to talking heads in your mind room.

I will get hate for this and I absolutely don’t get the critical acclaimed hype this game got… and I can’t sell it because it’s only on psn

I don't quite dislike it as much as you but I'd agree with much of this. Game was pretty boring and overly self indulgent, it took me about 3 weeks to finish despite clocking in at around 12 hours.

The story is also garbage, sure it's creative but if I don't have a fucking clue what's going on, you're doing it wrong.

I'd probably give it a 7 at best.

 

[Rivdoric]

Waiting for the PC release before purchasing it.

 

[tommib]

It’s an art house horror adventure game with sky high production values. We should be thankful it got made. We need more of these and less of everything else.

 

[SJRB]

Epic exclusive was a catastrophic error in judgement, even if it netted some extra dev budget.

 

[Alan Wake]

Hate? I agree with you, game has amazing presentation due to its budget but everything else is just underwhelming. I tried replaying it for the "new ending" but dropped it, doing countless boring walking sections and mind mapping mini game with Saga was unbearable for the 2nd time.

I really liked the game although I still think the combat was underwhelming just like in the first game. Overall I really enjoyed my first playthrough but yes, the replayability is limited. I don't think I'll return.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

I commend Epic for funding AW2, but they dropped the ball when it comes to the distribution aspect of this title (e.g. no physical release on console and EGS only) so no wonder it didn't earn its budget back yet.

 

[J3nga]

I really liked the game although I still think the combat was underwhelming just like in the first game. Overall I really enjoyed my first playthrough but yes, the replayability is limited. I don't think I'll return.

Even Alan Wake himself agrees, what more do we need as a proof.

 

[Rippa]

Go digital only, Get fucked!

 

[SNPlayen]

Was probably the $10 million consulting with Sweet Baby inc that’s holding it back

 

[Holammer]

If the EGS exclusive really hurt the game as speculated (looks like there's more than one factor behind the failure), let see they will similarly cripple the new co-op Control game right out of the gate.

 

[Killer8]

It’s an art house horror adventure game with sky high production values. We should be thankful it got made. We need more of these and less of everything else.

If we get more of these then the industry will bankrupt itself. The starving artist bit only lasts so long before the investor money dries up and these people are out of work. At least breaking even is absolutely pivotal if it's to be sustainable.

 

[Danjin44]

I really liked the game although I still think the combat was underwhelming just like in the first game. Overall I really enjoyed my first playthrough but yes, the replayability is limited. I don't think I'll return.

My biggest issue with AW2 is boring enemy design especially if you are going for survival horror game then monster design very important.

 

[tommib]

If we get more of these then the industry will bankrupt itself. The starving artist bit only lasts so long before the investor money dries up and these people are out of work. At least breaking even is absolutely pivotal if it's to be sustainable.

I said more not a replacement. There’s not enough of a balance in high-cost productions. Everything is becoming a highly industrial product in the AAA business.

I love to see the “starving” artists having means to high budgets because they do tend to bring innovation and watershed moments.

Publishers should be able to cover the “starving” artist with the mainstream productions. Think A24.

 

[Husky]

Huge Alan Wake fan, but I know next to nothing about this game. I don't watch videos about games, and since it isn't on Steam, I'm not certain the game actually exists. You might all be making it up just to fool me. Also I gotta upgrade before I play it

 

[midasmulligan]

Game ruined by terrible protagonist and pacing, not really surprised by results

 

[Spyxos]

Terrible game. I was very disappointed by the loud obnoxious jump scares, lack of combat, constant gatherering if crap with full inventory and bad puzzles. The gameplay loop consists of slow walking and puzzles. It’s barely engaging compared to other survival horror games. And the never ending Sam lake masturbation. I even liked the game before … he puts himself in every part of the game and that’s kinda almost fine. But the story is just trash. The new character is trash and the ending is trash.
And on top of that, they just port it to ps5 by slapping low on pc settings. No rt, no alternative solution, grainy war that doesn’t work and sub 30 performance with worst fsr2 this gen. And there controls are terrible on ps5. Worst dead zones and sensitivity ever.

I am usually not that critical and this game got some amazing setting, location forests and so on… but you end up pretending to be scared, pretending to be detective, pretending to be engaged. And spend hours listening to talking heads in your mind room.

I will get hate for this and I absolutely don’t get the critical acclaimed hype this game got… and I can’t sell it because it’s only on psn

It started out interesting and I had fun, but after a while it got annoying. And I must have put the game down 3-4 times before I finished it.