Alan Wake 2 is digital only and fans are already saying they won’t buy it-Michael Beckwith-Entertainment – Metro

Alan Wake 2 – forget the serial killers and monsters, Alan Wake 2 being digital only is the scariest part (Picture: Remedy)

Remedy has undermined its Alan Wake 2 launch date announcement by revealing that it’ll only be available as a digital download.

One of the bigger reveals at last night’s PlayStation showcase was a gameplay trailer for Alan Wake 2, which also confirmed its October launch date – just as one of its voice actors predicted.

Starring Wake himself, and new protagonist Saga Anderson, the two embark on their own journeys involving a serial killing and a horror story come to life. Despite the nightmarish premise, this game is a dream come true for fans who’ve been waiting since 2010 for a new Alan Wake adventure.

However, the excitement quickly turned sour in the wake of the trailer as developer Remedy admits that Alan Wake 2 will only be available as a digital download.

There are also no plans for a physical release, so this isn’t a Metroid Prime Remastered situation where it’ll launch digitally first and then as a boxed release later on.

As for why this is the case, Remedy’s reasons are threefold. First is the uncomfortable truth that more and more people are moving towards buying their games digitally.

Not to mention the industry is unsubtly trying to drag us into an all-digital future with Sony and Microsoft’s current consoles offering cheaper digital-only hardware.

Remedy also argues that not releasing a disc version saves money and means they don’t have to make the game more expensive to buy. For the record, Alan Wake 2’s standard edition costs £39.99 on PC and £49.99 on consoles.

A deluxe edition that comes with an expansion pass and some extra cosmetics is being sold for £54.99 on PC and £64.99 on consoles.

The third and final reason is that Remedy didn’t want to ship a physical version that would still require a digital download, like some modern games do.

‘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,’ says Remedy.

Despite Remedy’s best efforts to spin this decision as a positive, Alan Wake fans are clearly angry and disappointed with the decision. Some are even swearing off the game entirely.

There’s no telling if this will have any meaningful impact on the game’s sales, but it’s another blow against game preservation efforts.

It’s also easy to imagine it wasn’t really Remedy’s choice and that the decision was made by publisher, and Fortnite creator, Epic Games.

Let’s also not forget that the original Alan Wake was struck from digital stores due to expired music rights; if the same ever happens to Alan Wake 2, then it’ll become completely inaccessible to anyone who hasn’t already bought it.

Alan Wake 2 launches for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC on October 17.

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