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Alan Wake 2 is yet to earn back its budget.
- Thread starter Duchess
- Start date
Mr Reasonable
Completely Unreasonable
The game cost less then Dead Space 2 did a decade ago.....and they still haven't make profit
I mean you can't knock it's production values and yet it didn't cost much compared to other games
that $70m includes $20m marketing, apparently too! I can imagine Dead Space (even a decade ago) cost more to market so maybe that skews it a bit.
Guilty_AI
Gold Member
cinnamonandgravy
Member
no physical = no buy from me.
will get a copy from a friend eventually. liked the first one.
will get a copy from a friend eventually. liked the first one.
Unknown Soldier
Member
Alan Woke 2 really was a perfect storm of awful decisions, huh?
Replacing the protagonist and person whose name is on the game was clever when Kojima did it. What this game did was just wokeshit.
No physical version on consoles and Epic Games Store exclusive on PC seemed deliberately intended to make sure the game sold as poorly as possible.
Just a bunch of bad ideas all around for a franchise which wasn't really mainstream to begin with.
Replacing the protagonist and person whose name is on the game was clever when Kojima did it. What this game did was just wokeshit.
No physical version on consoles and Epic Games Store exclusive on PC seemed deliberately intended to make sure the game sold as poorly as possible.
Just a bunch of bad ideas all around for a franchise which wasn't really mainstream to begin with.
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xrnzaaas
Member
It's a benefit only if people who wanted a physical version will actually break and buy the digital one (and at full price). I can understand smaller studios not wanting to fund a retail release, but not in a case of a big budget game like this one, especially with THQ volunteering to publish the game (and they probably weren't the only ones interested).
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
I mean if you want to ignore the point and link to online activation DRM games which might not have allowed unlimited resell then go ahead but it doesn't take away from the fact that publishers are naturally drawn to storefronts with digital DRM which often meant avoiding GoG and physical releases.
Puscifer
Member
That literally doesn't make sense. Valve has an engine that's freely available to use if you so choose.
1/3rd of a game handles payment processing, a content delivery network, customer service you don't have to deal with, a storefront you don't have to deal with, cloud storage you don't have to handle, anti cheat you're not in charge of, message boards you don't really have to manage unless you choose and tons more benefits Valve just does! EA, Ubisoft and even Microsoft came crawling back when they see that the additional profits are likely a wash or compelete loss when you consider the management aspect of it all. When Fortnite eventually does something stupid or the next meme game comes along, I can almost guarantee you they're coming back too. That entire store is floated from that game.
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semiconscious
Member
shock...
day after hearing that their follow-up will be a multiplayer version of control?...
day after hearing that their follow-up will be a multiplayer version of control?...
Alan Wake
Member
Alan's parts are not that entertaining though.
Guilty_AI
Gold Member
The link shows you DRM is digital/physical agnostic, you don't need Steam to make your game unsellable or uncopiable.
Besides, the main drawn of digital storefronts is the ability to sell your game worldwide in infinite supply with basically no distribution costs. I thought that much was obvious so i don't know why there are people are pretending its because of some dumb drm shit.
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Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
If you like it that's fine. But this isn't some huge thing. They are making insane money running Steam. Lots of publishers have tried making their own storefront to try and recapture some of that lost money, but they can't because of the consumers not allowing it. It has almost nothing to do with some forums and cloud storage. Epic can run a store and give nonstop free games off just a 10% cut. Smaller publishers or indies, yes of course it's great. They have no ability to do those things.
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Senua
Member
For real, Saga's stuff in the forest was my favourite. Atmosphere was soooo good.
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Do you honestly think the DRM and the ability to resell a game is digital/physical agnostic because you posted a link to SecuROM? Ok buddy.
Guilty_AI
Gold Member
Yes? I guess you just don't understand how drm works then
Sure, if you ignore the reality you live in. Physical as a delivery method to convert to digital DRM with online activation was rejected by consumers both with games like Spore and the Xbox One reveal. So you linking to secuROM and suggestion physical and digital are agnostic when it comes to the ability to resell is delusional. Right now in the market we live in you can sell your physical games, you can't your digital ones. It's not agnostic.Yes? I guess you just don't understand how drm works then
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Puscifer
Member
Fortnite is a giant that's floating the store, that's my point, it hasn't turned a profit yet by their own admission. Free games don't make up for a shitty storefront, isolating their multiplayer matchmaking that REQUIRES a separate account rather than just tying into existing infrastructure, zero Linux support and antagonistic attitude towards their consumer base and you're seriously saying that "the consumer not allowing it" is a problem?
And to you managing a CDN and the workforce night not play a part in it but guess what? It absolutely is and it's why they come back. I don't want Ubisoft, they deleted my account and all my purchased games because I didn't use the service for a couple years but I found out the hard way. Fuck them. I didn't use steam for 5 years at one point, my account and every purchase was there. But you seem to think these anti consumer stores are worthy of our money. If the PC is an open platform and we have choices and the masses have spoken and they want Steam.
Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
This is about Alan Wake being published by Epic, and available on the Epic Store. It's not a multiplayer game. I don't see any issue with it really. And yeah, I think it comes off as super entitled to expect a publisher to make a game for an open platform like PC and then give up 30% to someone doing what they can do themselves. Maybe if Valve took like 5%. Literally all they'd be doing for Alan Wake is just hosting the downloads. Imagine just having to lose 1/3rd of your revenue for that. You can buy what you want, but I find the whole reaction to Alan Wake being on their own publisher's store absurd.
diffusionx
Gold Member
EA used to make the same argument, now all their games are on Steam.It's the cost to access the biggest online gaming store and community. Same reason why a store right on a busy road pays more in rent than one on the road nobody goes down.
Epic Games Store is where PC games go to die. It just is. It's been that way for years. Release your game on EGS and nobody gives a shit about it. Darkest Dungeon was the biggest indie game on earth, they made the sequel an EGS exclusive, it was completely forgotten and people moved on to other franchises. So paying that Steam fee is the cost of that NOT happening to your game.
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Guilty_AI
Gold Member
And its still done in some cases anyway. If avoid resales was all they wanted to do, it was plenty easy to accomplish that even with a physical release.
I know people here want to hate on digital games at any cost, but the truth is a lot of pubs prefer it simply because its easier, cheaper and has much wider range. The resale thing is just a bonus, which also gets lost when you take into account how many people only buy digital games on sale (its estimated as much as %20 of total potential revenue is lost on average due to discounted digital sales)
Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
I'm aware of exactly that. I just think that's crazy for the most open platform. But you guys do what you like. I can still have my own opinion.
No it wasn't easy because consumers buying physical rejected it wherever it happened. Whereas they didn't reject the inability with digital. That's what you're ignoring.
Puscifer
Member
You're missing the point of what valve provides and the hard lesson that UBISOFT, Microsoft and EA learned: that shit isn't cheap and requires an entire workforce they don't have and aren't willing to pay that makes them recouping these supposed "loses" a moot point.
"Hosting a download" isn't just putting a file there, it's an entire worldwide delivery network that has to maintained, secured and upgraded and even if you partner up with AWS or Google, they just give you the storage but you're still maintaining it which valve has built and optimized over 20 years, Epic can't compete, they just can't.
Punished Miku
Human Rights Subscription Service
Are you suggesting that no one in the world but Valve has the technical ability to sell games on a store on the internet?
diffusionx
Gold Member
This is the thinking that Sweeney had when they made EGS. They thought that if you just pay for the "right" games then people would ditch Steam to play games on EGS. At one point Tim even said that devs are going to decide the most popular platform, not gamers. Obviously he was wrong, because he doesn't understand people or markets in spite of his obvious intelligence in many other things.
Valve built a superior, customer-friendly service, and gave people no reason to leave it. When you have access to a gazillion games at the click of a button, switching apps and signing up for Epic to play one is a lot more friction than it may initially seem. It's at least more friction than just finding and playing another game on the service you like.
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Puscifer
Member
No, what I'm saying is these companies get into it thinking they're just going to do it and then time and time again it's proven to not be the case when the bills start rolling in. If you want to compete, then compete, but you can't come to market with a mediocre and often outright bad product then expect people to latch on because you offer 5 year old mid games twice a week.
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Iced Arcade
Member
I wanted to love it but couldn't get into the hype.
Guilty_AI
Gold Member
They didn't rejected it, they "rejected" it. The games still sold and the money still rolled in. BF3 was a great example of that, game sold pancakes despite the online pass bullshit EA pulled back then.
Solarstrike
Member
They should have made a game in the UFO or Crytid genre. Something like an X-Files meets Twilight Zone with a splash of LA Noire
ChoosableOne
ChoosableAll
Wasn't Alan Wake 1 one of the most well-known exclusives for Xbox 360?
I think its poor sales might be attributed to comments suggesting it's just a dull walking simulator. If it comes to Game Pass, I'll give it a shot, but honestly, the comments really dampened my interest in the game.
Krappadizzle
Member
I'm a huge Alan Wake fan and couldn't finish AW2. Bought the first game 3 times. AW2 felt like a chore; the story and "happy place" mechanic wore out it's welcome quick. Very pretty though.
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Peroroncino
Member
good, fuck it
Markio128
Gold Member
I don’t have many positive things to say about the game tbh, so this doesn’t surprise me at all. After the bombastic Control, I was surprised by how tedious AW2 was. They should have just made a new Max Payne, or a Control 2. Pissing about with that crime board and filing system was probably the worst gameplay experience I’ve had this gen. All style and no substance.
DanielG165
Member
It isn’t really a matter of quality here, but lack of exposure to an already niche game. The game itself is wonderful, one of the best of this current generation. However, it only came out on the Epic games store on PC, and not enough people played it on the current gen consoles.
xBlueStonex
Member
No physical, EGS only, Sweet Baby involvment, etc.
Just a perfect storm of shit decisions.
Just a perfect storm of shit decisions.
FalconPunch
Member
Not surprised. Remedy of late has come across as those sniffing their own farts. They should go make art house movies or something. For me, they haven’t made a good game since Max Payne 2.
Men_in_Boxes
Snake Oil Salesman
Wasn't Alan Wake 1 one of the most well-known exclusives for Xbox 360?
I think its poor sales might be attributed to comments suggesting it's just a dull walking simulator. If it comes to Game Pass, I'll give it a shot, but honestly, the comments really dampened my interest in the game.
Nah. The Alan Wake IP had 0 buzz to the mainstream in 2023. I'd consider it pretty niche.
rofif
Can’t Git Gud
Which one ?