Alan Wake 2’s October Launch Could Hurt Its Potential

Remedy Entertainment delivered an excellent survival horror title with 2010’s Alan Wake – a game that was emblematic of the developer’s biggest strengths. Everything from its ominous and bleak atmosphere to the spectacular writing and genuinely interesting characters come together to make Alan Wake a game that’s well worth your time, and the very favorable critical reception it received on launch backs these sentiments. But for all its merits, Alan Wake didn’t garner much commercial success – following which the seemingly promising franchise was put on indefinite hold.

More than a decade later, Remedy Entertainment is bringing back this beloved franchise with a full-fledged sequel in the form of Alan Wake 2. This survival horror game is being developed in a publishing partnership with Epic Games and is set to release later this year for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. While there is certainly a lot of hype and excitement surrounding the release, there’s also a fair bit of skepticism as well which ultimately begs the question – is Alan Wake 2 in trouble?

Like most open-ended questions, the answer is more complicated than a simple yes or no. Before even talking about the game itself, we have to analyze the market credibility of the franchise and gauge how likely it is that Alan Wake 2 will reach a massive audience. As mentioned previously, the original Alan Wake was a great game that unfortunately didn’t sell all too well for its time. Alan Wake Remastered tried to reinvigorate interest in the franchise with a souped-up re-release but ended up suffering a similar fate with developer Remedy Entertainment stating that it wasn’t happy with the sales figures.

Between a repeatedly underperforming original game and a sequel that’s deeply connected to the first game, Alan Wake 2 is looking like something that would only interest fans of the first game which would make the target demographic a niche one. While the game certainly looks interesting from a visual and gameplay perspective, getting into Alan Wake 2 isn’t going to be easy for a newcomer to the franchise – and Remedy doesn’t seem to have done much to make that process any smoother which could be a big point of concern for the game’s target audience. While the game certainly looks interesting from a visual and gameplay perspective, getting into Alan Wake 2 isn’t going to be easy for a newcomer to the franchise – and Remedy needs to do more to make that process smoother. Failure to do so could be a big point of concern for the game’s target audience.

But there are always two sides of a coin. Take for instance Remedy’s own Control which released in 2019 to great critical reception. Despite its middling budget and relatively convoluted narrative, Control was able to win the hearts of many fans. Sales started out slow, but they slowly picked up the pace and the game has sold more than 3 million copies to date which makes it one of the most profitable ventures from Remedy Entertainment. As of now, Control has morphed into a highly valuable franchise and Remedy has a sequel and spin-off in the works.

What this means for Alan Wake 2 is that despite being targeted to what might seem a small audience, it could still bring in the sales if it ends up being a critical hit. The game definitely shows a ton of promise, and as mentioned previously – anticipation surrounding this release is also pretty high. The Alan Wake IP holds a ton of value to Remedy, and it’s very likely that the developer will do anything and everything in its might to make this a great survival horror game even if that means pushing back the release date to polish the game up to a high standard.

But even if we give Alan Wake 2 the benefit of the doubt and assume that it will fulfill upon its promises, a big issue standing between the game and its success is the release date. You see, Alan Wake 2 is set to release on October 17 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S – which is going to be a packed month for video game releases. In addition to Remedy’s survival horror sequel, October 2023 will also see the release of heavy hitters such as the likes of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Assassin’s Creed Mirage. Furthermore, we also have Alone in the Dark stacked for release in that same month – which is another survival horror game that’s vying for consumer attention within that same short span of time.

When asked about the stiff competition in an interview, the developer stated that the team is only working to create the best possible game and not worrying about the imminent face-off with other releases of the month. While that statement might sound really good in a vacuum, delivering a good game and turning it into a profitable venture are two totally different things – and the developer of the original Alan Wake should know this difference very well.

In a utopian world, games wouldn’t have to be concerned with external factors like release dates and competition but that sadly isn’t the case. Take, for instance, Horizon Forbidden West – a game that suffered a similar fate on account of it being released next to Elden Ring. Guerrilla Games’ sequel started life on a strong note, but sales dropped by 80% once FromSoftware unleashed its highly anticipated offerings into the market. Forbidden West was able to do some impressive sales, but there’s little doubt that it was overshadowed by Elden Ring and ultimately failed to reach its full potential.

As it stands, Alan Wake 2 is sandwiched between two highly anticipated releases. Assassin’s Creed Mirage is releasing on October 12. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on the other hand looks set to take the series to new heights and it releases on October 20. Between this and the comparatively low market credibility of the Alan Wake IP, it looks like Remedy will have to fight an uphill battle to get its game to stand its own ground against these heavy hitters.

Despite the pessimistic tone of this feature, I really want Alan Wake 2 to succeed and end up becoming one of the biggest games of this year. As someone who had a great time with Alan Wake Remastered and someone who generally adores the works of Sam Lake, I am really excited for Alan Wake 2 – and there’s a lot to look forward to with this sequel. In addition to getting a dual protagonist structure, Alan Wake 2 is introducing new gameplay features like Mind Place that are exciting new additions that could make for a worthy sequel. Even the presentation and production values look superb, and I’m particularly excited to see how the narrative unfolds and how it all fits within the Remedy Connected Universe.

But as promising as these positives might sound, we can’t in good faith ignore the previously listed red flags that continue to be a point of concern for Alan Wake 2. To conclude, we can say that yes Alan Wake 2 is sailing through some troubled waters right now, but if the developer plays its cards right there’s a good chance that the game will end up being a success. And we sincerely hope that this ends up being the case, and that Alan Wake 2 marks a grand return of this beloved IP.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.