• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Alan Wake 2 becomes Remedy’s fastest selling game

tommib

Banned


"By comparison, Alan Wake 2 sold over 50% more copies and over three times more digital copies in its first two months than Control did in its first four months."“The successful launch of Alan Wake 2 has supported our other game projects: Condor, Control 2 and Max Payne 1&2 remake have all increased development pace thanks to the personnel released from Alan Wake 2, and we expect these projects to reach their next development stages during the first half of 2024. We now have two established franchises: Control and Alan Wake, which are linked through the Remedy Connected Universe. Growing and expanding these franchises will be a key part of our future.”

 

john2gr

Member
So AW2 was supposed to be a flop... does this mean their other games have been absolutely disastrous?

What made you think it was a flop? The false report from the media that didn't have anything to back up those claims? This right here shows why you shouldn't trust anyone who doesn't back up his opinion with concrete facts (and no, using concurrent player numbers does not reflect a game's success. The number of people that simultaneously play a game has NOTHING to do with how well a game sells. The media and fanboys are simply abusing that metric to push their narrative).

PS: You shouldn't also forget a game's budget. 1.3 million units for GTA6 in that same period of time could be disastrous given its HUGE development budget. On the other hand, for a small team like Remedy, this number could be a huge success.
 
Last edited:

xrnzaaas

Member
So AW2 was supposed to be a flop... does this mean their other games have been absolutely disastrous?
AW1, Quantum Break and Control weren't sales hits.

They're saying AW2 didn't break even yet so it means it's not a huge hit either. I think Remedy is okay with the long legs of their games and slowly building the numbers. It's not like they're backed by an anxious publisher like Square Enix demanding gazillion sold copies in the first 2 months.
 
I legit wonder if 1.3 million is enough to make back it's production costs. I'm guessing no but getting paid by Epic a lot of money for EGS exclusivity probably helped a lot
 

john2gr

Member
I legit wonder if 1.3 million is enough to make back it's production costs. I'm guessing no but getting paid by Epic a lot of money for EGS exclusivity probably helped a lot

It's been reported that it cost $50 million. If that number is accurate, 1 million should be enough to break even (and that's without the money from the EGS exclusivity). The game was priced higher than $50 on consoles, but let's assume a "universal" price of $50 to make things easier.
 
Last edited:

Zuzu

Member
I kind of hope this is the end of the Alan Wake series after this game. I hope the DLC ties up all the loose ends and that's the end of the story. Not really interested in them continuing on with these storylines with the characters as they're presently constructed. I do still like Alan Wake and his wife, but I don't like Saga or any of the other characters in this world. The storytelling style is also getting a little too artsy for my tastes. Gameplay is a step down from Control's as well.

But they should definitely continue on the Control component of the universe in another game.
 

Fake

Member
So AW2 was supposed to be a flop... does this mean their other games have been absolutely disastrous?

There is no context to that selling point. No charts even.
I assume the worst. Is like saying Suicide Squad did great because got number one in the top 10 chart, when the reality is the game did half of another game that flop.
Not to mention the game could get discount pretty fast.
 
Last edited:

Doom85

Member
I kind of hope this is the end of the Alan Wake series after this game. I hope the DLC ties up all the loose ends and that's the end of the story. Not really interested in them continuing on with these storylines with the characters as they're presently constructed. I do still like Alan Wake and his wife, but I don't like Saga or any of the other characters in this world. The storytelling style is also getting a little too artsy for my tastes. Gameplay is a step down from Control's as well.

But they should definitely continue on the Control component of the universe in another game.

Oh come on now. Even if you don’t like AW 2, that wouldn‘t be fair to the fans of the game. The ending clearly was setting up a third installment of a grand finale, to have it all resolved in DLC length would be a letdown.

That‘s like saying in 1980, “I did not care for Empire Strikes Back, therefore Return of the Jedi should be 30 minutes long.”

I do hope they continue Control as well, but they’d be foolish to wrap up Alan Wake in such a rushed manner. It’s because they have such a dedicated fanbase that helps them keep going despite making such niche games, you don’t bite the hand that feeds you but especially in this sort of situation.
 

Zuzu

Member
Oh come on now. Even if you don’t like AW 2, that wouldn‘t be fair to the fans of the game. The ending clearly was setting up a third installment of a grand finale, to have it all resolved in DLC length would be a letdown.

That‘s like saying in 1980, “I did not care for Empire Strikes Back, therefore Return of the Jedi should be 30 minutes long.”

I do hope they continue Control as well, but they’d be foolish to wrap up Alan Wake in such a rushed manner. It’s because they have such a dedicated fanbase that helps them keep going despite making such niche games, you don’t bite the hand that feeds you but especially in this sort of situation.

They've essentially tied up the cliffhanger ending with the New Game+ update that provides the "true" ending to the game I believe. There really isn't a cliffhanger anymore if they choose to keep that ending as canon. There are some other things that may still need to be explored from the story but I think they can do that in DLC. The core part of the story arc has been completed now if they don't choose to steer away from the New Game+ ending.
 
Last edited:

Three

Gold Member
So AW2 was supposed to be a flop... does this mean their other games have been absolutely disastrous?
If they sold what they expected then it wasn't a flop but it's hard to gauge that from the PR.

The game they're comparing it to, Control, wasn't that massive to begin with, I think Control sold less than the original Alan Wake, but as long as it was within budget then who cares because it isn't a flop.

To me though this looks like keeping up appearances to investors with slightly massaged statistics. A massive 2-4 month "fastest selling" timeframe that is helped by the digital only release. How would this statistic fare in the launch window for example where second hand sales don't eat at your sales in later months. Was it the fastest selling within the first week too?

They don't provide sales data to the likes of Circana either so it's difficult to get any real indication of sales performance. All we know is that they didn't make it to the top 100 most played games for the month at launch. Make of that what you will. Hopefully it was successful enough for them and they continue to make games like it.
 

Senua

Member
Remedy gods. Can't wait for the sequel in 20 years

tenor.gif
 
Last edited:
They need a new ip, that’s gonna get them 4 million plus sales, like max Payne, needs to be action based, but not over the top like in control. Dump that ip please.
 

ClosBSAS

Member
Lol 1.3 is low...what a slog of a game...had to use a trainer to finish it. Sales are what it deserves honestly.
 

StereoVsn

Gold Member
I legit wonder if 1.3 million is enough to make back it's production costs. I'm guessing no but getting paid by Epic a lot of money for EGS exclusivity probably helped a lot
On one hand that’s correct. On the other hand it completely clobbered their PC sales. So it’s a bit of a mixed bag.
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
Don't, their game budgets are a tenth of the usual "AAA" bloat. Control was made on a 35 million budget, for example.

Good on them! How do they manage to keep their budgets that low while everyone else is ridiculous? Especially considering their games look just as amazing.
 
Seems somewhat low to me, compared to something like RE games in the same genre. Sure, that's a bigger franchise, but AW2 is a very well received game. I thought it pretty surprising they didn't use Denuvo on this. This must've been heavily pirated due to EGS exclusivity on PC. That said, I don't think it should've made a huge difference if the game was on Steam tbh. Hopefully the DLCs will bring more sales and the game will have a long tail, it certainly deserves it.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
It's been reported that it cost $50 million. If that number is accurate, 1 million should be enough to break even (and that's without the money from the EGS exclusivity). The game was priced higher than $50 on consoles, but let's assume a "universal" price of $50 to make things easier.

They don't get 100% of that revenue, so no, it's not gonna be anywhere near break even yet.
 
Top Bottom