October was strong for video game sales in the United States, with best-selling titles like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Super Mario Bros. Wonder, per Circana. However, the odd game out is Remedy Entertainment’s Alan Wake 2, which wasn’t in the charts.
Circana executive director and analyst Matt Piscatella addressed this on Twitter, noting that Epic Games is “not part of the DLP, so digital sales are not included.” However, he added that the sequel “did not rank among the top 150 titles on either PS5 or Xbox Series X/S in October monthly active users, according to Circana’s PET.”
This may be due to the game releasing near the tracking period’s tail end. With its recently announced nominations in The Game Awards 2023, Piscatella believes it may perform better in November and December, though it’s too early to say. He also felt that it would have benefited from a physical release.
Neither Remedy nor Epic Games has commented on the sales performance of Alan Wake 2, which is only available digitally for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. Stay tuned for further updates on that front. In the meantime, check out our review, where we awarded it 9 out of 10, and other accolades from critics here.