Remedy announced the new Alan Wake 2 will only be a digital release.
Alan Wake 2 was announced during the PlayStation Showcase, check out the trailer, and that got us all kinds of hype, but it’s time to return to Earth it seems.
Remedy has a FAQ on the official website which details a bit about the upcoming game, and within is the announcement that the game will only be released digitally. According to their reasoning it is due to “gamers not purchasing physical games anymore,” along with an attempt to keep the price of the upcoming game lower. Currently the price of the game is $59 for consoles and $49 for PC.
Honestly this is some disappointing news because I’m an avid buyer of physical games and don’t see much value in full priced digital titles, especially single player driven ones. I much rather have a physical release, and more so a collectors edition release that includes something cool from within the game. A journal from Alan Wake perhaps?
It also notes that no plans for a physical release are in the works, which is also odd. Considering their reasoning there are routes to take to mitigate the issues. Limited Run and Iam8bit, for example, are known for talking with publishers to do limited releases under their own printing, so why not work with someone like them? You hit the smaller audience while cutting some costs in doing so.
The official website explains that both Xbox and PlayStation have disc-less variations, but fail to mention the disc enabled counterparts are outselling them. They also have a Deluxe Edition which costs $79 for consoles, $10 more than a standard $70 game so clearly people are willing to spend the money here.
We’ve been down this road before, hello Redfall, and it hasn’t been great. We’ve also seen the first Alan Wake removed from digital storefronts due to music licensing. We watched the entire Metal Gear Solid series vanish for years digitally. Physical games simply don’t run this risk…
