Remedy has reconfirmed that there are no plans for a physical version of Alan Wake 2.
As reported by Tech4Gamers, Remedy had this response when asked about this in a new interview:
“I hear you, but there are no other plans as of now.”
From the start it does seem like Remedy, or at least one person in Remedy, has been dead set about making this game a digital only release.
When they first announced this decision last May, Remedy had a lot of answers ready. For one, they pointed out that most gamers had moved on to buying their games digitally, because of the convenience.
Secondly, Remedy mentioned that it allows them to keep game’s prices at $ 50 for PC or $ 60 on consoles, well below the $ 70 that all the big three game console companies have adopted to at least their most premium games.
Lastly, Remedy touted that they did not want consumers to buy a disc and then have to download part of the game after the fact.
In a new interview months later, Remedy added to their arguments for doing this. This time, they tried to sell fans on the notion that the studio would have more time to work on Alan Wake 2 and polish it before release. They reason it turns out this way, is because Remedy does not have to get their game approved earlier, to allow for the game companies to publish the game on physical formats.
However, we all know that this is perfectly possible, and in fact, someone in the industry decided to show this to us too. THQ Nordic pointed out that they could take on publishing duties for the physical version of Alan Wake, if Remedy wanted them to. This announcement did seem like THQ Nordic trying to make it public so that Remedy would be forced to agree, but it didn’t work.
Remedy took on Epic Games Store as their publisher, so their insistence to stay digital only is because of Epic and Remedy. It really doesn’t seem like they will accept any reason to publish the game on physical at all.
As THQ Nordic had alleged, the decision to not publish on physical is down to one person in Remedy. We don’t know if THQ Nordic’s assertion is true at all, but we do think if they were really hoping to get this business, they wouldn’t be lying about it.
In any case, maybe if fans demand it enough, we can get a physical release months after the official launch date.
Alan Wake 2 will be releasing on October 17, 2023, on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows via Epic Games Store. It will not be available on Steam, at least at launch.
