Last week during the big PlayStation Showcase, fans got a first peek at Alan Wake 2 in action and the game looks plenty ominous. Unfortunately, it was also revealed that Alan Wake 2 will be a digital-only game, despite appearing to be a AAA title in terms of budget, scope, and certainly price. Some found that to be a bit ominous in its own right!
Well, perhaps an Alan Wake 2 physical release isn’t entirely out of the question after all. Following the reveal that the game will be digital-only, the official THQ Nordic Twitter account chimed in, saying they’d love to get back into the physical Alan Wake publishing game again (they published physical versions of the original game).
“I mean… we did the disc version of Alan Wake for PC back in the day ICYMI 😉 And just because ONE person (or company) does not love physical, there is plenty who still do. Give it some thought. We’d love to go at it again! Full circle and all.”
Remedy has yet to respond to the offer. Of course, giving THQ Nordic the go-ahead may sound easy, but business can be complicated, and there are a lot of things to consider. That said, Remedy’s explanation for their publishing decision was a bit unconvincing, as they simply pointed to the popularity of digital releases and claimed that skipping a boxed version would allow them to keep their price tag reasonable, despite the fact that physical releases for $60 or less are still common enough.
“There are many reasons for this. For one, a large number of have shifted to digital only. You can buy a Sony PlayStation 5 without a disc drive and Microsoft’s Xbox Series S is a digital only console. It is not uncommon to release modern games as digital-only. Secondly, not releasing a disc helps keep the price of the game at $59.99 and the PC version at $49.99.”
I have a feeling a physical edition of Alan Wake 2 will end up happening eventually, if only so they can sell players a fancy collector’s edition of the game. Of course, it’s the quality of the game that really matters in the end.
Alan Wake 2 shines its light on PC (via the Epic Games Store), Xbox Series X/S, and PS5 on October 17.
