Remedy’s Alan Wake 2 was a resounding critical success when it launched last year. It matched the studio’s historic highest Metacritic score (Max Payne’s 89). Here on Wccftech, the game earned a 9/10 score from Francesco De Meo:
Despite not aiming to revolutionize the survival horror genre, Alan Wake II is an amazing game that no one who enjoys a good trippy horror story should pass on. Remedy Entertainment really outdid themselves, releasing their best game to date and one of the most immersive gaming experiences of the past few years.
Unfortunately, it didn’t quite sell Gangbusters. Back in March, Remedy CEO Tero Virtala said Alan Wake 2 had recouped ‘most’ of its investment. The latest report that the Finnish company published today makes it sound like Alan Wake 2 barely went forward—the game still hasn’t recouped all the costs.
At the end of the quarter, Alan Wake 2 had recouped most of its development and marketing expenses. After the end of the quarter, the second expansion of Alan Wake 2, The Lake House, was released on October 22 alongside the Physical Deluxe Edition of the game.
Remedy’s games were never really huge mainstream hits. Still, two factors probably contributed to the relatively low sales. For one thing, they launched the game only in digital stores, but that’s now been rectified, as mentioned above; the retail debut might bring in a few more players. More importantly, Epic Games funded the game’s development and therefore secured a permanent exclusive for its own store on PC. This meant no release on Steam, which would have certainly brought in a larger audience. On the other hand, without Epic Games, Alan Wake 2 might not have been made at all.
Anyway, Remedy CEO Tero Virtala also addressed investors on the status of the future projects:
- FBC: Firebreak, previously codename Condor, continues in full production with a focus on iterating on the core loop and implementing more of the UI (user interface) for more player clarity based on playtesting feedback.
- Control 2 has progressed well in the production readiness stage and is on track to start full production during 2025. Many of the critical features of the game have been implemented to mitigate production risk, and workflows and pipelines are being tested in preparation for full production.
- Max Payne 1&2 Remake is making steady progress in full production. The development team continues their work, gradually reaching important milestones.
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