Alan Wake 2 Will be a Digital-Only Release, Gives Remedy More Time for "Polish"

[T0@st]

Remedy Entertainment announced last month, via a FAQ, that it plans to keep Alan Wake 2 exclusive to digital platforms for an October 17 (this year) release, with no consideration given to customers demanding physical copies. Eurogamer questioned the game's creative director Sam Lake, and director Kyle Rowley at Summer Games Fest (earlier this month)—the site's reporter demanded a more detailed explanation regarding the long-anticipated sequel's eschewing of physical media. Lake responded first: "Yeah, it is digital only, and kind of coming to this idea, both from Remedy and Epic's perspective, that's our current thinking. It just felt it makes sense for this, and the timing felt right." His colleague, Rowley added further insight: "As creatives obviously, by going digital-only it does allow us more time to polish the game. Like, a significant number of weeks actually. Because otherwise, the game that goes on the disc, obviously it has to be playable without a patch. We didn't want to release something that we weren't proud of basically, and that we didn't want players to play. So hopefully this way we can give you a better version of the game."

The gaming community has debated at length about the temporary nature of digital releases—termination of online services and changes in ownership rights have resulted in certain titles becoming completely inaccessible to players/fans. Preservationists have fought hard for the continued release of physical media, but some publishers have resorted to bundling a download code in a disc-less retail box. Remedy Entertainment's FAQ proposes that digital platforms provide a more cost effective option for customers: "There are many reasons for this. For one, a large number of players have shifted to digital only. You can buy a Sony PlayStation 5 without a disc drive and Microsoft's Xbox Series S is a digital only console. It is not uncommon to release modern games as digital-only...Secondly, not releasing a disc helps keep the price of the game at $59.99 / €59.99 and the PC version at $49.99 / €49.99...Finally, we did not want to ship a disc product and have it require a download for the game - we do not think this would make for a great experience either."




A string of ritualistic murders have brought FBI agent and profiler Saga Anderson and her partner and fellow agent Alex Casey to the small town of Bright Falls in the Pacific Northwest. The gameplay in this video takes place early in the game. Saga's investigation has turned into a nightmare after finding pages of a horror story that start to come true, perhaps written by a certain missing writer.

The nightmare becomes real as Saga finds herself at Cauldron Lake, outside of Bright Falls, trying to track down and stop the murder victim who has come back from the dead and turned into a monster. This gameplay clip was shown for the first time at Summer Game Fest, June 2023.

Alan Wake 2 comes out October 17th 2023 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via the Epic Games Store. For more information visit: https://alanwake.com

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[ReallyBigMistake]

How about once all the patches come out they make a physical release that does not require any large patch...that would be a good middle ground

 

[Imouto]

How to tell, without telling, that you have zero confidence in the title.

 

[Raiden85]

In this day and age it's about time media went digital only. Storage isn't an issue nor is high speed Internet for a vast majority.

When games constantly require online patches or being always online physical copies of games are absolutely pointless now.

 

[Assimilator]

Physical copies need to die. Nothing more than a waste of material in 2023.

 

[ZoneDymo]

Physical copies need to die. Nothing more than a waste of material in 2023.

and yet they are the only reason why you can get stuff cheap still, with things being digital, everyone can go the Nintendo route and never drop teh price on anything ever, there is no pressure to get something off the shelves for new stuff.

 

[DemonicRyzen666]

Physical copies need to die. Nothing more than a waste of material in 2023.

NO!, Terrible Idea.
especially if you pay for internet with a data limit Internet. PC games will blow though you data cap, by a single, or two games.

 

[dgianstefani]

and yet they are the only reason why you can get stuff cheap still, with things being digital, everyone can go the Nintendo route and never drop teh price on anything ever, there is no pressure to get something off the shelves for new stuff.

Plus the publisher can just decide to stop supporting their digital platform and bing, all your media is gone. Ooops, sorry.

 

[nageme]

Plus the publisher can just decide to stop supporting their digital platform and bing, all your media is gone. Ooops, sorry.

You don't need physical media for that, only games that don't require online connectivity. GOG works.

 

[trsttte]

They can pry physical media from my cold dead hands!

high speed Internet for a vast majority

How nice it is to live in a country with fast internet... Don't get me wrong, I have a pretty great and above average service, I'm also plenty aware of just how absolutely terrible internet is in some places, and not even speaking of developing countries, just look at Germany or the US lol

physical copies of games are absolutely pointless now

Physical copies need to die. Nothing more than a waste of material in 2023.

You're both wrong, physical copies are great! You can lend them, you can buy them on sale more frequently, you can even sell them once/if you're done with that game. No server or web store shutdown will prevent you from playing your game either, even if your console goes bust you're legally able to find alternatives (not that the legally part should ever stop you, but it's nice to know you're less at the mercy of things like nintendo switch online or whatever it's called)

 

[Hyderz]

what does poland have to do with this?

 

[bug]

I don't know, you take years developing a title and at the end you make a point about gaining "Like, a significant number of weeks actually"... Anyone else thinking rushed?
It's a good thing they kept the price down, hopefully that's not a reflection of their expectations.

 

[Chomiq]

I don't know, you take years developing a title and at the end you make a point about gaining "Like, a significant number of weeks actually"... Anyone else thinking rushed?
It's a good thing they kept the price down, hopefully that's not a reflection of their expectations.

Yeah, they should just delay the game. But hey, someone from the C-level wants to meet the deadline, plus there's probably some catch in the EGS deal that would punish them for not meeting the release date.

 

[Dr. Dro]

I can't remember the last time I bought a PC game on physical media. I think it was Battlefield 3. It came with the installer on two discs, but it already required Origin and was activated by an account-bound, single use download code. The launch version contained in the DVD media was also effectively worthless and didn't serve even the purpose of reducing the game's download size, as it didn't come with expansions or anything.

In essence, physical media has been dead for a very long time.

 

[Chomiq]

In essence, physical media has been dead for a very long time.

Not on consoles, there you can still re-sell the physical copy. Physical copies only died when it comes to PC gaming.

 

[MarsM4N]

Not on consoles, there you can still re-sell the physical copy. Physical copies only died when it comes to PC gaming.

Which is also the reason games for consoles are considerably more expensive on consoles compared to PC. From a environmental standpoint physical copies are just e-waste as you still need to download tons of patches to make games playable (esp. for online games). The only positive I can see is if you want something for display, like a steelbook edition.

Also the constant humming of the disk drive would drive me mad today in times of the SSD age.

 

[Chomiq]

Which is also the reason games for consoles are considerably more expensive on consoles compared to PC.

Not if you buy them used.

From a environmental standpoint physical copies are just e-waste as you still need to download tons of patches to make games playable (esp. for online games)

What about waste energy from running all the servers?

Also the constant humming of the disk drive would drive me mad today in times of the SSD age.

The humming is only upon the bootup of the game. After that it's all silent. Welcome to the post PS3 era of console gaming.

 

[nageme]

What about waste energy from running all the servers?

Less than physical disc production and distribution, I presume.

you can buy them on sale more frequently

It seems that digital ones are also on sale often. Is it more expensive on average?

No server or web store shutdown will prevent you from playing your game

Unless it's a single-player game that requires online verification/connectivity.

you can even sell them once/if you're done with that game.

Maybe the solution to that is to mandate that digital stores must allow transfereing games between accounts.

 

[MarsM4N]

Not if you buy them used.

What about waste energy from running all the servers?

Even used physical copies are still more expensive than digital keys on sale. If you include shipping it's even more expensive. Plus environmental damaging, way more than server downloads.

The humming is only upon the bootup of the game. After that it's all silent. Welcome to the post PS3 era of console gaming.

Didn't know that. My last console was indeed a PS3, and the noise from the disk drive was just horrible.

Maybe the solution to that is to mandate that digital stores must allow transfereing games between accounts.

That's something the EU should get behind ASAP. But as game licences are tied to accounts it would be a major task for the gaming platforms. They would also need some safety features to protect users from game transfers in case your account gets hijacked. Some stolen ingame items is something you can swallow, but plundering of your gaming library would be pure nightmare.

 

[trsttte]

Which is also the reason games for consoles are considerably more expensive on consoles compared to PC

Except they aren't, console exclusives are cheaper when they eventually launch on PC because at that point they're older and cross compatible games are at most 10€/$ more expensive when they aren't the same price because reasons (i don't know, playstation/xbox division taking a piece because of the marketing strategy or something)

It seems that digital ones are also on sale often. Is it more expensive on average?

It is, and the digital stores keep higher prices for longer while physical media goes down as the game ages even outside sale events.

Maybe the solution to that is to mandate that digital stores must allow transfereing games between accounts.

There were a couple cases in court to go after that and some might still going through the motions I guess but no results so far sadly

Even used physical copies are still more expensive than digital keys on sale.

Only if you're buying retail store used copies that are a complete rip off. YMMV but only digital keys I've ever seen cheaper than physical media were grey market keys (probably bought with stolen credit cards or money laundering operations)

 

[bug]

Which is also the reason games for consoles are considerably more expensive on consoles compared to PC. From a environmental standpoint physical copies are just e-waste as you still need to download tons of patches to make games playable (esp. for online games). The only positive I can see is if you want something for display, like a steelbook edition.

Also the constant humming of the disk drive would drive me mad today in times of the SSD age.

From an environmental standpoint, PC and console gaming are just e-waste. They don't fulfill any mandatory requirement and are easily replaceable with a million alternatives. Just sayin'.

 

[csendesmark]

I liked the first, bought it years later when they released on PC too, when they realized that the Xbox exclusivity flopped
Will buy this in 2025 on a summer sale...