Alan Wake 2 was properly revealed during yesterday's PlayStation Showcase, with developer Remedy giving us a first glimpse at real gameplay ahead of the title's October release. Alongside this in-game reveal, the team dropped a bunch more Alan Wake 2 info onto its FAQ page, and one detail in particular is starting to turn heads.
To put it simply: Alan Wake 2 will be a digital-only release on all platforms, including Xbox Series X and S. While this is a pretty common thing these days for smaller titles, Remedy's Alan Wake sequel is a huge AAA release and fans are starting to question the move. Well, the team has given us a few reasons for its switch to digital-only:
"There are many reasons for this. For one, a large number of [players] 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 / €59.99 and the PC version at $49.99 / €49.99.
Finally, 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."
These are all pretty valid reasons to be honest, and we're sure fans will be happy to see Alan Wake 2 stick to a $60 price point. However, those who do buy physical won't have any option to purchase the game unless plans change, and we're sure they'd have preferred a $70 title that was able to hit store shelves.
Whether Remedy will reverse this decision — or even do some kind of limited run physical release in the future — remains to be seen, but for now, "there are currently no plans to release Alan Wake 2 on disc". There is a Digital Deluxe Edition planned though, containing the game, its Expansion Pass and a bunch of cosmetic DLC packs for $79.99 / €79.99 / £64.99 on Xbox.
What do you make of this? Disappointed? Happy to buy digital at $60? Let us know your thoughts.
[source alanwake.com]
Comments 20
One of those "many reasons" being that Epic Games are *********'s.
I would rather the publisher be honest than kick out a disc with less than 1 gig of the game on it. For 'collectors'.
Absolutely loved AW1. Might not be buying this a long time - sorry can’t resell after playing so unless it’s deeply discounted it’s a no from me.
I'll still pick it up, especially at the cheaper price point, be picking up the deluxe edition
Real shame, was planning tp pick it up physically to resell but now I'll have to wait a year for a good sale.
Damned digital marketplaces
I don't buy physical games anymore but this only makes sense if the game is bigger than the capacity of a BD, unless they expect to launch a buggy game and fix it afterwards.
@Krysus at least those 1 GB disks still give users the ability to rent and trade. 100% digital in a game like this is just them wanting to halt resales, rents and lending.
I’m basically digital only on Xbox these days but still find this shady as hell.
@Banjo- it also could simply be addressed with “physical version will be available a month later” or something like that. Not “this is a digital release only”
It makes sense - these days, games are 'alpha' or at best 'Beta' code on Disc these days and require an ONLINE connection to 'install and/or update' the game to actually be playable on release.
The Disc is nothing but a way to check you have a 'valid' licence to play the game. The Licence is all that's necessary on the disc as the 'software' has to be installed to an internal storage device anyway - so its just a 'delivery' system, like downloading.
As they say, the ONLY people who would buy 'Physical' are those Series X or PS5 disc version owners who 'prefer' to buy Physical copies and they are not being 'prevented' from purchasing and therefore playing, just not able to buy 'Physical'. All those gamers on Series S, PS5 discless and PC as well as a significant portion of the Series X/PS5 disc systems will buy digitally.
The downside of course is the lack of 'retailer' competition to drive prices as low as possible.
That's alright. Release a disc version in a couple of years, with the fully patched game and all the DLC.
I just got a gigabit internet plan, so this won’t take me long to download and i have been 100% digital for Xbox since 360 when the option became available. I have no use for physical media, but for those that still like it i am glad it sort of still exists.
Pre-ordered. I had $10 Microsoft Store credit..so it will only be $50 for me. I don't care about digital-only when it comes to Xbox/PS5 anymore.
Switch is the only one I care about due to most first-party games fitting entirely on the card and don't need to take up precious storage space.
Reason #1: Greed
I personally can't wait for physical media to die off completely. It has for PC gaming and the have dealt with it just fine.
I am personally okay with this decision.
Will definitely buy it on release.
Guess I will buy it for PC. I prefer physical collecting on console.
One of the realities we live in. High speed internet is considered a luxury but in reality a necessity if you want to interact equally with humanity. In a first world country it is a shame some have it (in Canada at a high cost) and remote or low income do not…
I'm not OK with this decision. Until you have a mechanism to sell on a digital copy, physical discs are the only way to maintain a secondary retail market. I would rather not waste plastic to have a way to sell on a product I own but there is no alternative.
People still buy discs? Really? Most don't even include the full game anyway. We all knew this was coming. The fact it took this long is the real surprise.
This is not a problem because Xbox game packages are not sold at all in Japan! There's no such thing as an Xbox corner in game stores.
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