Alan Wake 2 Will Only Be Available Digitally

With a high-profile game like Remedy Entertainment’s Alan Wake 2, you would presume that a physical copy would be available on purchase on release day. Apparently, it seems that you are out of luck as the developers have decided to keep it digital, at least for now.

These days, digital-only games are pretty much standard, especially for indie or smaller titles. But Alan Wake is just a title that many are hyped up about.

Remedy’s games are commonly known for being highly anticipated, and their games generally have high production value. They are known for games like Control, Quantum Break, and Max Payne.

Even their recent Alan Wake Remastered edition got a physical copy for the current and previous generations of consoles.

Remedy Wants To Release Alan Wake 2 Digitally To Keep The Costs Down

On the official Alan Wake 2 FAQ page, Remedy posted the reason for the decision to keep the game digital only:

Why is Alan Wake 2 a digital-only release?

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 / €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.

High-profile games these days have obviously raised their prices to a whopping $70, which Sony has started. While many gamers didn’t like this, since it had already started, many games have followed through, not only PlayStation games but also Xbox and Nintendo as well.

Microsoft and Bethesda’s Redfall already have priced the game at $70. Nintendo priced the Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom at that price point even though some think of it more as an expansion to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild than a new game.

It seems that the price increase is a trend that is not going away anytime soon. Sony has set the bar, and it looks like everyone else has to keep up with it.

No Physical Disk For Alan Wake 2

Alan Wake 2 Will Only Be Available Digitally

Credit: Remedy Entertainment

Games these days don’t really use disks. Somehow the disk read speed can’t compare to the speed of the internal SSD making the use of disks practically useless in terms of actually playing games.

While many developers still put game content on disks, most games would still require gamers to download a large patch on day one before people can actually play the game.

In some cases, the disk doesn’t even have the game. The disk only has an application to download the game, and its primary function is to work as a license to allow you to play the game.

This is something that many gamers are not happy about.

Since a patch seems to be inevitable to happen, Remedy would instead go for the digital route for Alan Wake 2 to save us the headache of downloading a day-one patch.

As a gamer myself, I do hope that Remedy does reconsider releasing Alan Wake 2 on disks. While I admit that I rarely buy physical games these days, there are times that I still get them. There are gamers who still love collecting physical copies, and there are locations that don’t have easy access to an internet connection. Based on the FAQ that they released, they have no plans of releasing physical copies anytime soon, which is disappointing.

Alan Wake 2 is set to release this October 17, 2023, on PC, PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series S/X consoles.

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