Developers from the Finnish studio Remedy Entertainment reported that the psychological horror Alan Wake 2, warmly received by critics and players, has finally started to make a profit more than a year after its release.
Image source: X (jerpusmaximus)
Let’s remember that Alan Wake 2 was released in October 2023 on PC (EGS), PS5, Xbox Series X and S. Despite not being available on Steam, the game showed the best start in Remedy’s history – by the beginning of last February, sales reached 1.3 million copies.
As it became known, following the release of The Lake House add-on, an update for PS5 Pro and improvements to the game on all platforms, by the end of 2024, sales of Alan Wake 2 reached a new high – 2 million copies.
The achievement in question finally allowed Alan Wake 2 to cover the studio’s development and marketing costs, meaning that a year and two months after the game’s release, Remedy was finally receiving royalties from its sales.
Image Source: Remedy Entertainment
Following the announcement, users of the ResetEra forum were happy for the developers, but lamented that the game had not reached 2 million copies earlier – the remake of Silent Hill 2 (also a psychological horror) took three months.
One of the reasons fans have cited is the unavailability of Alan Wake 2 on Steam. However, the situation will not change in the near future: Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney recently confirmed that the game will not be released on the Valve store.
Epic Games financed the development of Alan Wake 2 and “seriously” invested in marketing, so the decision should not come as a surprise. However, history has shown that even eternal exclusives sooner or later cease to be so.