Alan Wake 2 has reportedly sold below expectations, and some in the industry are blaming Epic Games for it. Michael Douse, Publishing Director at Larian Studios, pointed the finger at Epic, arguing that the game’s exclusivity deal prevented it from launching on Steam — and that this decision may have cost Remedy hundreds of millions of dollars in potential sales.
A few days ago, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney posted that “Epic and Steam compete for each customer and each sale. On some transactions, Epic wins. On more, Steam wins. But one thing is constant on every transaction: gamers and developers win by having more options and better deals.”
Douse replied: “I understand Epic entirely funded Alan Wake 2 but this altruistic pro-developer talk doesn’t sit well when Remedy seemingly went into financial crisis because they couldn’t tap Steam for AW2 sales suffering potentially hundreds of millions in lost revenue.”
He continued by saying that while Epic doesn’t necessarily need the money, its share of the revenue could have helped Remedy recover development costs and more. “Competition is good and important,” Douse added, “but it is difficult to buy the message when there are demonstrable cases of games underperforming as a result of the tactic.”
Remedy Entertainment Responds
Remedy Entertainment quickly responded, reaffirming its appreciation for Epic’s support. The Finnish studio stated that Alan Wake 2 would never have existed without Epic’s involvement and publishing deal.
“There would be no Alan Wake 2 without Epic Publishing,” Remedy wrote in its post. “The publishing deal with Epic was very fair to Remedy. While these complex deals can often take even a year to reach their conclusion, and may not always be fair to the developer, this one was.”
The studio added that it only took a few months to finalize the agreement, and described Epic as “an excellent partner.”
In other news, Epic Games Store’s user base has surged 173% to 295 million in six years, but revenue has barely grown — up just 1.6%. Despite free game giveaways boosting sign-ups, most users aren’t spending money on the platform.
