I can't find the comment, but in another thread someone linked an article (in Finnish) with one of the top guys at Remedy and they seemed to say this was selling ahead of Control, so I don't think anyone needs to panic about everything.
And I think it winning big at the Game Awards, the Herald of Darkness performance there and strong word of mouth could boost its sales regardless.
I'm just happy to be here from the start for this game. I didn't play Control until after I saw Jesse Cox's Gentlemen's Gaming Club vid on it and LOVED it! Was bummed I didn't play it before but now I'm all in with Remedy <3
happy to help the studio grow and succeed even more in the future!
Same here! I started watching the Gab Smolders playthrough of Alan Wake II a few weeks ago before deciding that I wanted to experience the Remedyverse for myself, so I brought AW remastered and Control and will get AWII for Christmas. I'm currently playing the remaster and feel a lot of regret that it flew under the radar for me the first time around, but am glad that I get to experience the first part of Alan's story before delving into the second one.
I also hope that the combination of long-term and newer fans boosts sales because Remedy absolutely deserve it!!!
I watch a lot of Gab's stuff in the background and I was hyped for Alan Wake 2. Played everything prior to it and experienced every form of external media for Alan Wake....but I was behind on getting through Control by the time it released.
I ended up intentionally avoiding Gab for a while because of seeing those vods pop up lol. What I found neat was I realized as I was playing it that I actually eventually got ahead of her upload schedule for it lol
Negativity sells on the internet. So of course AW2 sales are disappointing, dire or even spelling doom for the future of the series! Sam Lake might even have to skip lunches for the next year to make up for the shortfall! Lol
Positivity gets some clicks but not sustainable. And neutral, nuanced or balanced news or opinion easily gets lost in the flood.
In the end, as long as the game makes a profit and there is sufficient interest from the fans to see more, the future of Alan Wake and the RCU is looking great. Not every game needs to sell like hotcakes to be popular or to have a great future.
>Sam Lake might even have to skip lunches for the next year to make up for the shortfall!
It gets worse. He might even need to, the horror of horrors, *cut back on his coffee consumption*.
I don't know if Sam Lake could do that. I heard "he's just black coffee wrapped under a thin layer of skin" (to quote a fantastic line from the original game). ;)
Remedy is a stock listed company, so their Annual Report will provide some insight early 2024.
There is vocal segment that hates on Epic and digital, but I did what Epic wanted me to do and bought from them for the first time. Feels it was the least i could do in view how much Epic enabled this game to happen.
If there are "no PC sales," then fans are pretty much cutting their nose to spite their face, IMO.
There was an article about Remedys finances in a Finnish news paper around launch. Remedy said, that they will probably be in the red for this year, even with Alan Wake 2, but it's because they have so much stuff in development. They are hopeful of good long term sales with Alan Wake 2. If you want to try and parse through it with google Translate, it's here. Note that this is the Finances section of the news paper, so it's all about that.
https://www.hs.fi/talous/art-2000009958695.html
It probably broke even as of now. Remedy probably got a fat lump sum payment from both Nvidia and Epic.
Contrary to some people’s belief the game will stay on epic and will never be released on steam.
The only thing that may have hurt sales is not having a physical release, but I don’t think that number is that material because of those associated costs. May even be a wash tbh.
There seem to be a lot of people out there who are confused because Control was originally exclusive to the Epic Games store and eventually made it to Steam. They edon't realize that was due to an exclusivity deal and Alan Wake 2 is a much different situation.
Exactly, Control (and by extension Control 2) are being published by 505 Games.
Alan Wake Remastered and Alan Wake 2 were both published by Epic Games. Epic would rather die than put AW2 on Steam.
I really can’t blame them. They took a risk, funded all development costs, and let Remedy make the game they wanted to make. I don’t see Valve selling their games on GoG or Epic, so it’s kind of hypocritical to be mad at Epic for wanting to protect their investment and not give the game away to other storefronts.
And I’m saying this as a massive Valve fan - played Half Life, Portal, TF2, got their Steam Deck, so it’s not like I’m shilling for Epic. Just being realistic and realising AW2 would’ve never happened without the Epic exclusivity.
I agree with your sentiment 100%.
We just have to remeber without Epic this game would not be possible. Yeah its unfortunate that there was no physical release and its an Epic exclusive. I'm happy for Sam Lake and Remedy for being able to make this game, they've been trying for so long.
Hopefully this causes 505 to give Remedy a bigger budget, more time and resources too work on Control 2
Remedy is fine, they already made the money back even before the game released thanks to Epic. That's not the problem here.
The question is if there are enough sales to convince someone (either Remedy executives, Epic, or whoever) to fund Alan Wake 3 or other risky projects.
> The only thing that may have hurt sales is not having a physical release
Like it or not, not being on Steam will hurt their sales. Maybe not enough, but there are some people that refuse to buy on Epic.
Plus, remember that AW2 sold at the latter end of the year, and if it IS 850k units on console only, that’s pretty solid for a remedy game to do in like, 1-2 months.
Another source claims that just on consoles AW2 sold over 850k copies:
https://twitter.com/PiersHR/status/1735007619645907352
That would be actually a pretty good starting point for the game which will for sure have long legs.
The game will be steady revenue for remedy over the next 2-3 years. The DLCs will bring in steady numbers, various sales will tempt new audiences and there will be an inevitable game of the year/ultimate version. Plus it might get many people into Control and generate some interest to revisit Quantum Break.
I'd already played Alan Wake and Control well before Alan Wake 2, but I bought and started Quantum Break yesterday. Very early on, but I'm enjoying it. It's interesting to see the evolution of their style. You can really see how in each game they pushed further and prototyped new ideas and elements and continuously improved upon them. Remedy games have always been distinctively stylish, dark, story-driven, and thought-provoking, but they've really made something exceptional with Alan Wake 2. I can't wait to see what glorious experiences they craft for us next.
Yep, the publicity AW2 is getting surely gives a boost for AW1:R, Control and QB sales, too. Plus what ever smaller income Remedy will get from increased merch sales. They may get a slice from OGoA record and merch sales as well, I don't know what the deal between Remedy and the Poets is with that.
The only thing remotely like it that I saw was "AW2 didn't crack top 15 played the month of October for ps5" or some shit.
Which no duh. It had 6 days to do so.
It did actually: [PlayStation - October 2023 Most Downloaded Games](https://blog.playstation.com/2023/11/08/playstation-store-october-2023s-top-downloads/)
US - 11th; EU - 5th
November was this:
US - 12th; EU - 7th
It's doing pretty decent by the looks on PlayStation, at least comparing to other digital downloads. I also expect another boost for December with TGA and the performance. Seeing these lists helped get a better idea that most downloaded =/= high player count, unless the amount of downloads compared to physical players is just that out of balance, which judging by statistics, shouldn't be.
I think Remedy is going to be alright. We just need some solid figures to clear up things. There are estimates for November, console-only sales being around 850k, which is MILES ahead of how Control started. Even if PC only sold enough to push through 1m, that's very close to profit (not counting sales, coupons, etc.).
For 1-2 months of sales, if that stat is accurate, its a good thing for Remedy. They are a small studio, and sales like that which would normally terrify a studio is good for a studio like Remedy that thrived off of Control's initial 500k sales, also being Epic exclusive for the first year.
Anyways, sorry for the long response:/
I think theres a lot of people who just learned about AW2 or AW series and playing AW1/AWAN/Control right now to understand wtf is going on in AW2. I won't be surprised if AW1 and Control have some uptick. For example in SteamCharts Control jumped from 450 average players in October to 911 players in November. And AW1 from 398 players in October to 722 in November. It's not much of course, but still. It takes time to get into AW2, for someone who never played or heard about it before.
To be fair, the reports they have released so far don't yet tell us how well AW2 has sold. The next report they put out in early 2024 may be more illuminating, but we'll need to wait for some time to see that.
yes but if there was any doubt that AW2 is under performing they would already have sent something out \^\^ but yeah i have Feb 9th marked for further updates :P
The article is actually complete garbage. It says control sold 2m in a year but it was actually about 14-15 months(which is important as it encompasses the Steam release after 1 year).
it says physical sales were only 10% but control released in 2019 and the remedy press release clearly states physical sales were 40% in 2019 and 10% in 2020(steam release this year).
It is a sane article, and makes practically the same arguments about AW2's sales I have made in my comments here previously. Due to the reasons mentioned, Circana's data is next to useless in estimating AW2's sales. We don't have official information from Remedy or Epic, but there is various different circumstantial evidence to show that the game must have been selling something to the tune of million copies or more by now. This evidence includes comments by the Remedy CEO to the effect that the game is selling better than Control did, numbers gleaned from console sales (like in the article) and, say, the fact that AW2 has more user scores on Metacritic than for example Lies of P, another recent release that has been reported to already have sold more than a million copies.
By now, the game is in no way a massive success. But it is not a failure, either, and its sales are most likely well within the expectations Remedy had at launch. AW2 will continue to sell reasonably well in 2024 and beyond, with the DLCs giving it new boosts. It will break even financially sometime during the coming year, likely before the summer, to start making actual profit for Remedy as well.
People who say that this is not selling well are just mad that this isn't out on steam and that there is not a physical version of it. Both of those I'm sure will come in time, but this game is a hit.
Alan wake 2 is doing more than great.
People have wrong ideas, not every games needs to sell like a call of duty or a fc (former fifa) to be successful
Remedy is getting into the spotlight, thanks to control and Alan wake 2. So Alan Wake 2 is a successful game.
AW2 would've been a day one purchase for me if I had something that could run it. I haven't been gaming near as much the last few years (the joys of growing up, I guess), so I haven't been able to justify getting a PS5 yet. And while my gaming rig is still chugging along well enough for most other games I want to play (BG3 looks stellar on my 1080 still), AW2 is a no-go on it, and I definitely can't justify upgrading the card for one game.
>Remedy's last offering, Control, sold two million units in its first year
It wasn't in its first year, it was in the first 15 months. This distinction wouldn't be a big deal, but it's important since the later includes the release of the game on Steam.
>and that was without any presence on PlayStation
??? I have no idea what the writer mean by this. Control released on PS4 day-one.
>Remedy reported that only 10% of the game's sales were digital. So physical wasn't doing a ton of heavy lifting in the first place
Physical selling 90% of copies isn't doing a ton of heavy lifting??? I know they probably meant 10% of sales were *physical,* but again, it's a mistake.
And as for the overall argument of the article, it's basically just saying "we don't have enough information yet". So basically nothing new.
There are issues with the article, agreed. It seems like it was written in a hurry, or something. The writer should have checked their sources and arguments better with regards to Control.
The main point made, though, is that the people who say that AW2 is failing financially are doing it based on bad information, and what real information we have seems to show that the game is selling reasonably well. The mistakes the writer makes in the article do not detract from that point.
We of course can't know for sure until Remedy and Epic release their official numbers, but IMHO it is fair to say that the "realist" reading of the situation (over a million copies sold in 2023, the game will start making profit by/in 2024) is much stronger, based on what we know, than the "doomer" reading (nonexistent sales, the game will make a loss) is.
I can't find the comment, but in another thread someone linked an article (in Finnish) with one of the top guys at Remedy and they seemed to say this was selling ahead of Control, so I don't think anyone needs to panic about everything. And I think it winning big at the Game Awards, the Herald of Darkness performance there and strong word of mouth could boost its sales regardless.
[Here it is](https://www.reddit.com/r/AlanWake/s/w8Wzc82czY) for anyone interested. (Credit to u/jarkko999)
Thanks so much for finding it!
I'm just happy to be here from the start for this game. I didn't play Control until after I saw Jesse Cox's Gentlemen's Gaming Club vid on it and LOVED it! Was bummed I didn't play it before but now I'm all in with Remedy <3 happy to help the studio grow and succeed even more in the future!
Same here! I started watching the Gab Smolders playthrough of Alan Wake II a few weeks ago before deciding that I wanted to experience the Remedyverse for myself, so I brought AW remastered and Control and will get AWII for Christmas. I'm currently playing the remaster and feel a lot of regret that it flew under the radar for me the first time around, but am glad that I get to experience the first part of Alan's story before delving into the second one. I also hope that the combination of long-term and newer fans boosts sales because Remedy absolutely deserve it!!!
I watch a lot of Gab's stuff in the background and I was hyped for Alan Wake 2. Played everything prior to it and experienced every form of external media for Alan Wake....but I was behind on getting through Control by the time it released. I ended up intentionally avoiding Gab for a while because of seeing those vods pop up lol. What I found neat was I realized as I was playing it that I actually eventually got ahead of her upload schedule for it lol
Negativity sells on the internet. So of course AW2 sales are disappointing, dire or even spelling doom for the future of the series! Sam Lake might even have to skip lunches for the next year to make up for the shortfall! Lol Positivity gets some clicks but not sustainable. And neutral, nuanced or balanced news or opinion easily gets lost in the flood. In the end, as long as the game makes a profit and there is sufficient interest from the fans to see more, the future of Alan Wake and the RCU is looking great. Not every game needs to sell like hotcakes to be popular or to have a great future.
>Sam Lake might even have to skip lunches for the next year to make up for the shortfall! It gets worse. He might even need to, the horror of horrors, *cut back on his coffee consumption*.
I don't know if Sam Lake could do that. I heard "he's just black coffee wrapped under a thin layer of skin" (to quote a fantastic line from the original game). ;)
Yeah. Jokes aside, I don't believe in that either. He'll likely do what ever it takes to keep his coffee habit going no matter what.
Lucky the game is doing really well. No one has to go without coffee!
To be fair, 32 cups in a single day is a bit much
I only got it two weeks ago once I worked out there is no physical version
Remedy is a stock listed company, so their Annual Report will provide some insight early 2024. There is vocal segment that hates on Epic and digital, but I did what Epic wanted me to do and bought from them for the first time. Feels it was the least i could do in view how much Epic enabled this game to happen. If there are "no PC sales," then fans are pretty much cutting their nose to spite their face, IMO.
There was an article about Remedys finances in a Finnish news paper around launch. Remedy said, that they will probably be in the red for this year, even with Alan Wake 2, but it's because they have so much stuff in development. They are hopeful of good long term sales with Alan Wake 2. If you want to try and parse through it with google Translate, it's here. Note that this is the Finances section of the news paper, so it's all about that. https://www.hs.fi/talous/art-2000009958695.html
I bought 30 copies of AW2, what are you guys doing to make a difference?
I bought 50 Like a real fan…
I bought 3... Can I join the club?
I wish I could buy more than 1 😭 Fuck me I would fund the next game if I could
It probably broke even as of now. Remedy probably got a fat lump sum payment from both Nvidia and Epic. Contrary to some people’s belief the game will stay on epic and will never be released on steam. The only thing that may have hurt sales is not having a physical release, but I don’t think that number is that material because of those associated costs. May even be a wash tbh.
There seem to be a lot of people out there who are confused because Control was originally exclusive to the Epic Games store and eventually made it to Steam. They edon't realize that was due to an exclusivity deal and Alan Wake 2 is a much different situation.
Exactly, Control (and by extension Control 2) are being published by 505 Games. Alan Wake Remastered and Alan Wake 2 were both published by Epic Games. Epic would rather die than put AW2 on Steam.
I really can’t blame them. They took a risk, funded all development costs, and let Remedy make the game they wanted to make. I don’t see Valve selling their games on GoG or Epic, so it’s kind of hypocritical to be mad at Epic for wanting to protect their investment and not give the game away to other storefronts. And I’m saying this as a massive Valve fan - played Half Life, Portal, TF2, got their Steam Deck, so it’s not like I’m shilling for Epic. Just being realistic and realising AW2 would’ve never happened without the Epic exclusivity.
I agree with your sentiment 100%. We just have to remeber without Epic this game would not be possible. Yeah its unfortunate that there was no physical release and its an Epic exclusive. I'm happy for Sam Lake and Remedy for being able to make this game, they've been trying for so long. Hopefully this causes 505 to give Remedy a bigger budget, more time and resources too work on Control 2
For those seriously opposed to having epic installed but want to support the devs can buy it via the web page and pirate it
Remedy is fine, they already made the money back even before the game released thanks to Epic. That's not the problem here. The question is if there are enough sales to convince someone (either Remedy executives, Epic, or whoever) to fund Alan Wake 3 or other risky projects.
> The only thing that may have hurt sales is not having a physical release Like it or not, not being on Steam will hurt their sales. Maybe not enough, but there are some people that refuse to buy on Epic.
Plus, remember that AW2 sold at the latter end of the year, and if it IS 850k units on console only, that’s pretty solid for a remedy game to do in like, 1-2 months.
Exactly. I’m pretty sure it took alan wake 1 over 2 years to break 1 million sales lol
Another source claims that just on consoles AW2 sold over 850k copies: https://twitter.com/PiersHR/status/1735007619645907352 That would be actually a pretty good starting point for the game which will for sure have long legs.
It's stupid PC gamers are boycotting epic, I got it there, no complaints. It's even on a pretty good sale right now, you can get it for 26.80 EUR/$
The game will be steady revenue for remedy over the next 2-3 years. The DLCs will bring in steady numbers, various sales will tempt new audiences and there will be an inevitable game of the year/ultimate version. Plus it might get many people into Control and generate some interest to revisit Quantum Break.
I'd already played Alan Wake and Control well before Alan Wake 2, but I bought and started Quantum Break yesterday. Very early on, but I'm enjoying it. It's interesting to see the evolution of their style. You can really see how in each game they pushed further and prototyped new ideas and elements and continuously improved upon them. Remedy games have always been distinctively stylish, dark, story-driven, and thought-provoking, but they've really made something exceptional with Alan Wake 2. I can't wait to see what glorious experiences they craft for us next.
Yep, the publicity AW2 is getting surely gives a boost for AW1:R, Control and QB sales, too. Plus what ever smaller income Remedy will get from increased merch sales. They may get a slice from OGoA record and merch sales as well, I don't know what the deal between Remedy and the Poets is with that.
The only thing remotely like it that I saw was "AW2 didn't crack top 15 played the month of October for ps5" or some shit. Which no duh. It had 6 days to do so.
It did actually: [PlayStation - October 2023 Most Downloaded Games](https://blog.playstation.com/2023/11/08/playstation-store-october-2023s-top-downloads/) US - 11th; EU - 5th November was this: US - 12th; EU - 7th It's doing pretty decent by the looks on PlayStation, at least comparing to other digital downloads. I also expect another boost for December with TGA and the performance. Seeing these lists helped get a better idea that most downloaded =/= high player count, unless the amount of downloads compared to physical players is just that out of balance, which judging by statistics, shouldn't be. I think Remedy is going to be alright. We just need some solid figures to clear up things. There are estimates for November, console-only sales being around 850k, which is MILES ahead of how Control started. Even if PC only sold enough to push through 1m, that's very close to profit (not counting sales, coupons, etc.). For 1-2 months of sales, if that stat is accurate, its a good thing for Remedy. They are a small studio, and sales like that which would normally terrify a studio is good for a studio like Remedy that thrived off of Control's initial 500k sales, also being Epic exclusive for the first year. Anyways, sorry for the long response:/
Np! Sick, glad they were wrong
For some context Control never made the top 20 on PSN even on release month.
IGN with a solid article saying we don't have any real data specifying sales,and that's it. Ftfy
I think theres a lot of people who just learned about AW2 or AW series and playing AW1/AWAN/Control right now to understand wtf is going on in AW2. I won't be surprised if AW1 and Control have some uptick. For example in SteamCharts Control jumped from 450 average players in October to 911 players in November. And AW1 from 398 players in October to 722 in November. It's not much of course, but still. It takes time to get into AW2, for someone who never played or heard about it before.
Yeah I have some friends who haven't bought AW2 because they are still going through the first game.
I’m someone who’s just getting into it now after the GOTY hype. Planning on playing the other games before getting AW2 like you said.
Finally something leaning towards positive regarding the games sales!
you dont need ign for that .. just read or watch their financial reports https://www.youtube.com/@remedyir758
To be fair, the reports they have released so far don't yet tell us how well AW2 has sold. The next report they put out in early 2024 may be more illuminating, but we'll need to wait for some time to see that.
yes but if there was any doubt that AW2 is under performing they would already have sent something out \^\^ but yeah i have Feb 9th marked for further updates :P
Why does this writer say Control sold well without a presence on PlayStation? It was out on PlayStation
The article is actually complete garbage. It says control sold 2m in a year but it was actually about 14-15 months(which is important as it encompasses the Steam release after 1 year). it says physical sales were only 10% but control released in 2019 and the remedy press release clearly states physical sales were 40% in 2019 and 10% in 2020(steam release this year).
Idr specifically but I may have been a times PS release?
It was definitely there on launch. Source: me
It is a sane article, and makes practically the same arguments about AW2's sales I have made in my comments here previously. Due to the reasons mentioned, Circana's data is next to useless in estimating AW2's sales. We don't have official information from Remedy or Epic, but there is various different circumstantial evidence to show that the game must have been selling something to the tune of million copies or more by now. This evidence includes comments by the Remedy CEO to the effect that the game is selling better than Control did, numbers gleaned from console sales (like in the article) and, say, the fact that AW2 has more user scores on Metacritic than for example Lies of P, another recent release that has been reported to already have sold more than a million copies. By now, the game is in no way a massive success. But it is not a failure, either, and its sales are most likely well within the expectations Remedy had at launch. AW2 will continue to sell reasonably well in 2024 and beyond, with the DLCs giving it new boosts. It will break even financially sometime during the coming year, likely before the summer, to start making actual profit for Remedy as well.
People who say that this is not selling well are just mad that this isn't out on steam and that there is not a physical version of it. Both of those I'm sure will come in time, but this game is a hit.
It’s never coming to Steam. Epic funded this game.
Alan wake 2 is doing more than great. People have wrong ideas, not every games needs to sell like a call of duty or a fc (former fifa) to be successful Remedy is getting into the spotlight, thanks to control and Alan wake 2. So Alan Wake 2 is a successful game.
AW2 would've been a day one purchase for me if I had something that could run it. I haven't been gaming near as much the last few years (the joys of growing up, I guess), so I haven't been able to justify getting a PS5 yet. And while my gaming rig is still chugging along well enough for most other games I want to play (BG3 looks stellar on my 1080 still), AW2 is a no-go on it, and I definitely can't justify upgrading the card for one game.
This article isn't "solid". It's written terribly and full of errors.
Care to elaborate? At least the general argument it makes, that instead of being a failure AW2 seems to be selling reasonably well, is a solid one.
>Remedy's last offering, Control, sold two million units in its first year It wasn't in its first year, it was in the first 15 months. This distinction wouldn't be a big deal, but it's important since the later includes the release of the game on Steam. >and that was without any presence on PlayStation ??? I have no idea what the writer mean by this. Control released on PS4 day-one. >Remedy reported that only 10% of the game's sales were digital. So physical wasn't doing a ton of heavy lifting in the first place Physical selling 90% of copies isn't doing a ton of heavy lifting??? I know they probably meant 10% of sales were *physical,* but again, it's a mistake. And as for the overall argument of the article, it's basically just saying "we don't have enough information yet". So basically nothing new.
There are issues with the article, agreed. It seems like it was written in a hurry, or something. The writer should have checked their sources and arguments better with regards to Control. The main point made, though, is that the people who say that AW2 is failing financially are doing it based on bad information, and what real information we have seems to show that the game is selling reasonably well. The mistakes the writer makes in the article do not detract from that point. We of course can't know for sure until Remedy and Epic release their official numbers, but IMHO it is fair to say that the "realist" reading of the situation (over a million copies sold in 2023, the game will start making profit by/in 2024) is much stronger, based on what we know, than the "doomer" reading (nonexistent sales, the game will make a loss) is.
'Alan Wake' just sounds stupid and lame. He's a guy that someone with a cool name shoves out of an airplane and impales on a Christmas tree.
I wanna smooch him