Remedy Focuses on Polishing Alan Wake 2 Digital-Only Edition until the Last Moment

Alan Wake 2, the highly anticipated survival-horror title, will be released exclusively in digital format. This decision has raised questions among fans who believe the game deserves a physical release. With its impressive production values and a gameplay duration of at least 20 hours, many wonder why Alan Wake 2 isn’t getting a physical version. Remedy Entertainment, the developer behind the game, has offered some explanations, but they haven’t fully convinced the fans. Reasons such as the growing popularity of digital releases and the ability to keep the price down have been cited. However, Alan Wake 2’s creative director Sam Lake and game director Kyle Rowley have now provided a new explanation in an interview with Eurogamer.

According to Lake and Rowley, the decision to go digital-only is actually driven by the desire to perfect the game until the very last moment. When a physical release is planned, the game’s code needs to be finalized and sent for disc pressing several weeks or even months in advance. By opting for a digital-only release, Remedy Entertainment has more time for polishing the game and ensuring it meets their high standards. The team didn’t want to release a version that wasn’t up to par and playable without any patches. Going digital allows them to deliver a better and more complete experience to the players.

Although it may raise concerns that the focus on last-minute polish influenced the decision to forgo a physical edition, fans hope that Remedy will take their time to deliver a polished game after years of anticipation. However, there is still hope that a physical release may be considered in the future, especially since THQ Nordic has expressed interest in making it happen.

Alan Wake 2 will be available on PC (via the Epic Games Store), Xbox Series X/S, and PS5 on October 17. For more information, you can refer to Wccftech’s recent developer Q&A.