Remedy blames “very competitive window” for Wake figures, insists IP has “legs”

One of the best games I have played in ages, 2 BIG mistakes were done by Remedy.

1: Wrong time to launch the game

2: Making it X360 ekslusive

With nr 2 beeing the biggest mistake.

Did anyone watch all six webisodes? I managed to watch the first two but then i slipped into a coma

@2 I watched all of them, it was like watching porn actors act only without the nudity.

The webisodes were…. curious. The full game was okay – really good in places, a bit bland in others.

I don’t think it lived up to its potential – a chance at a sequel would really give them the opportunity to fix up the things that didn’t really work this time around.

Favourite game in a very very long time, I really hope they make a sequel.

The game was just too repetitive. After chapter two you’d unlocked all the weapon-types and the newer weapons were just powered-up versions of the ones you’d already collected.

And the puzzles were just mind-numbingly ho-hum. God of War III’s were about the same and much better in places (the perspective puzzle for instance).

They really needed more enemies to mix it up. They should’ve had darkness infused wolfs….and a bear! Although those flying fridge-freezers were pretty scary.

On the second chapter you listen to a radio program with a caller telling the DJ that his dog had gone mental and ran off in to the woods….perfect set up for the introduction of a new enemy type, the “crazy rabid darkness dog”. So i spent the next 5 minutes running around the woods in high alert mode waiting for said dog to jump out at me. Low and behold there was no dog.

would’ve been even better if the dog had jumped out, but it wasn’t evil just scared, then it would follow you for the rest of the chapter, and would bark whenever those evil Kitchen appliances came a lurking

Not asking for dark (robot) stallions, mington?

My main complaint was also that it got a bit ‘samey’, especially in the first three chapters where you’re pretty much stuck in a forest environment. But yes, the puzzles were also completely lacking – there was little to do other than shoot the same things in the same way over and again.

The world was great, and it looked fantastic at times, but sooooo linear. No reason to explore even five yards from either side of the path/road – if you can’t see it from there it’s basically not there. I’d have loved it to be a little more open, a bit more complex in gameplay. Give me a few different routes, some non-story areas to explore that have more than a discarded thermos in them.

Took me a while to get into it, but I loved the last few episodes.

Flawed, but definitely worth a look. Shame it’s not doing better really. I’d really like to see a sequel with a few new ideas and some bits tightened up.

@mington – Funny that you mentioned the dog. It was the same for me but even here in Germany – no dog. More enemies and this will be my new favorite game.

Cheers

Yeah, it certainly picked up towards the end once the pace quickened – that fitted the style of game more. If you’re going to do something more plodding and atmospheric you really need to fill the downtime with more things to do and the earlier stages really suffered from that.

It should have been on PC as well, that would’ve helped. And if Remedy are blaming stiff competition, they should just be thankful it didn’t launch with Starcraft 2.

Fucking creepy or what!?

this is what Alan Wake was missing:
http://images.whatheck.com/uploaded_images/drunk-man-horse-bank-732675.jpg

I personally enjoyed the game very very much. it’s, as of now, Game of the year for me personally. The game simply took too much time to be released. Had it come out two years ago, it would have been an instant HIT. It is a brilliant game nonetheless.

I think the game has done about half a million copies to date according to VGchartz (take that with a pinch of salt) which is not that bad by any stretch of the imagination.

They have 3 DLC content episodes which I hope will do well in terms of sales. The first one is free for those who bought the game but the other 2 hopefully will bring in some more money. I personally will be willing to throw money at all episodes if it means giving them a chance to do a sequel. Also, Microsoft would be crazy in my book if they don’t give the franchise another chance. Their 1st party portfolio is Soooo lacking in this genre of 3rd person action adventures. The franchise needs to live on.

they should have released this game years ago and they shouldn’t have canceled a PC version.
If Remedy goes for a sequel and follows the same steps it will surely end up baring the same fate as the first one whatever changes they’ll do to “fix” some of 1st’s flaws…unless they turn it into something like Halo or GoW

I enjoyed this game alot. But…it was way too short and there was very little to gain from replaying it again. And sweet Jesus how long do we have to wait for the DLC episodes.

The game has the same sell about what 80% Heavy rain did, and being a good game to boot instead. Great things to show till the end of the year.

@17 not even close from 80% of what HR did even in HR’s 7th or 8th week…

http://www.vgchartz.com/game.php?id=7703

http://www.vgchartz.com/game.php?id=13817

@13 that was hilarious, the first thing was a bit creepy though!

Sure, and making this game exclusive for an online FPS-focused console has nothing to do with it, right?

The thing that got me about Alan Wake is you have this fearsome force that can toss cars like they are nothing yet its afraid of a torch, plus they never explained how those god dam coffe thermos got there, i mean there were bloody loads.

@TH: Twin Peaks

What’s the deal with the DLC btw. I put my code in and supposedly I’m supposed to get an email with another code… but I haven’t got one. =/

i reackon its because its a horror game because the only horror game i can think of is RE5 but that isnt really a horror itsnt it

Oh i know its inspirations, but what works for a tv show didnt work for AW i found anyway. i hope it gets a sequel but they are best off going multiplatform for no 2.

The DLC’s not out yet, Psycho. You’ll probably get something once it actually turns up – about three weeks to go, iirc.

if they have released it on PC too .. they would have sell many copies .. especially May was empty for us (PC)

It was a decent game but beset by problems clearly
* Remedy dicked about for far too long on the game, I recall some really early talk of the games town being a sandbox only to be a linear TPS.
* The whole episodic thing built into game must have been another abandoned idea wanting to push out the game but MS probably said no.
* The main character and his sidekick were quite unlikeable.
* Large parts of the game has you running from point A to B with nothing happening even a driving section too.

A PC version would have done absolute nothing in terms of sales, wishful thinking from fanboys in reality it would have just more people ignoring the game.

I did enjoy the actual combat sections for what they were, shame the rest of the game wasn’t quite as good.

I feel this is typical Scapegoat from Remedy ,maybe releasing the game at a different would help but the game was rahter blah for the direction they were going. It ended up being a generic TPS by the end of the game. I did enjoy the eye candy but by the 3rd chapter I was just playing to beat it not because I was enjoying the game.

IT had potential to be great but the story was mediocre at best.

rainer said:
July 12, 2010 at 5:13 pm

A PC version would have done absolute nothing in terms of sales

Give this guy the fucking Nobel Prize..OK, and you know this how? Genius.

So between AW being sent to die and Crackdown 2 obviously being rushed, Microsoft need to sort thier first party out.

OK, and you know this how?

Because it has no online functionality… so most of the people who wanted it on the PC would have just pirated it.

Psychotext said:
July 12, 2010 at 6:41 pm

Because it has no online functionality… so most of the people who wanted it on the PC would have just pirated it.

Wrong, the title would’ve sold better on digital platforms like Steam, D2D, etc.

Anyway the 360 didn’t do the game justice, as it was sub-HD, and tore like a bastard due to no V-Sync.

The game bombed on the 360…Karma’s a bitch isn’t it!

Wrong, the title would’ve sold better on digital platforms like Steam, D2D, etc.

What was the last game that managed that? Half Life 2? Maybe some random shooter?

Psychotext said:
July 12, 2010 at 6:57 pm

What was the last game that managed that? Half Life 2? Maybe some random shooter?.

I’m genuinely interested. Which recent titles sold better on the PC than on consoles?

Psychotext said:
July 12, 2010 at 7:03 pm
I’m genuinely interested. Which recent titles sold better on the PC than on consoles?

You do know that NPD, ChartTrack, etc don’t publish digital downloads sales!…so speculation on my half would be just that, speculation.

But your response: “What was the last game that managed that? Half Life 2? Maybe some random shooter?. is just being stupid or maybe you’re a wee bit “green” as we all know how successful Steam has been…

In other words, it would’ve done Remedy/MS no harm releasing the game on another platform.

…and you can’t tell a joke when you see one. You see that little smiley? That means I’m playing about.

Psychotext said:
July 12, 2010 at 7:21 pm
…and you can’t tell a joke when you see one. You see that little smiley? That means I’m playing about.

In other words, you just got owned!

No you’re right, clearly owned. I’m a 360 only gamer and I hate the PC. Muppet.

@36 It’s a well known fact that consoles consistently outsell the PC by a margin of about five to one. You might not be able to see the direct sales figures, but you can just look at the revenues generated by the different platforms.

Also, making a game work on both a console and a PC tends to involve a compromise when it comes to controls, and that really effects the gameplay. As such, you wouldn’t be a crazy person to make a console game fully devoted to a console interface. It could add up to more sales if you do it right.

Psychotext said:
No you’re right, clearly owned. I’m a 360 only gamer and I hate the PC. Muppet.

I see you edited, probably right to… the original post did make you look a little stupid when you realise that you missed a bunch of titles which didn’t suit your argument.

LOL that fanboy anatomy is amazing.

They should have bade the game for PS3 alsow, statistics says the PS3 have alot of gamers in the age of 30 and up.

For me Alan Wake is a game that probably wil appeal to adults more then the avrage fps junkies that own a X360.

Good thing they did not bring it to the pc, a dying gaming plattform. They would probably earn less then on the X360 version becaus of all the piracy…

Kudos to Remedy for making one of the best games of 2010. To bad you made it just for the X360…big mistake.

I think the fact that Microsoft published it might have something to do with it not being on PS3.

Also, I think there’s a note of disappointment when they talk about “aggressive marketing”. A few bizarre webisodes does not a great advertising campaign make. MS could definitely have done more with it.

“You do know that NPD, ChartTrack, etc don’t publish digital downloads sales!”

True, but then i’d assume publishers actually do include those figures when they announce how much a game has sold. A cross check with the published consoles sales is pretty conclusive.

And as DeSpiritusBellum pointed out, publishers end year results clearly show more profit from console software sales then PC, apart from MMO’s for obvious reasons.

As for Alan Wake. The 360 was the wrong platform for the game, but honnestly the game isnt all the special either. I guess PC sales would have helped but not by much.

“So between AW being sent to die and Crackdown 2 obviously being rushed, Microsoft need to sort thier first party out.”

I dont think MS actually owns the IP for either of them. But yeah, it really is a poor year for 360 exclusives. NN3′s also got a critical beating.

Gekidami said:
July 12, 2010 at 8:10 pm

True, but then i’d assume publishers actually do include those figures when they announce how much a game has sold. A cross check with the published consoles sales is pretty conclusive.

PC games are mostly Digital Downloads now. The PC gaming sector doesn’t need brick n’ mortar outlets anymore.

Steam, Direct 2 Drive, Play Green House, Impulse, GOG, Gamersgate, EA Store, Beamdog, plus countless developer stores, don’t publish their sales figures. Unlike NPD, Chart Track, etc.

No one will ever know the absolute sales figures for Digital Downloads (as the above don’t publish them), so it would be pointless even to try and speculate.

Unlike PSN & XBL, there is competition in the Digital Downloads market on the PC, with all of the companies mentioned above competing for customers.

It’s a healthy situation for the PC gaming sector to be in.

Whilst digital delivery services don’t publish their numbers, the publishers must have an idea of how titles are selling simply due to their cut of the profits. Gekidami’s suggestion that they wouldn’t leave said numbers out of their PR is perfectly reasonable.

In any case I don’t think releasing on the PC and PS3 would be a panacea for the game’s sales. It would probably have hit a million worldwide, but that’s fairly modest by today’s standards. A bigger marketing push from Microsoft would have been a better solution, and holding the game back until now might have helped it stand out as well.

i think we will see alan wake on PC .. i can sense that
but later

Steam, Direct 2 Drive, Play Green House, Impulse, GOG, Gamersgate, Beamdog and the like are just distributors, not publishers. The publishers remain EA, Ubi, Act and others. And whilst the distributors dont publish their sales figures the publishers often tell us how many one of their games has sold across all platforms. Theres no reason they’d leave DD figures out of their PR and out of their profit reports.

“It’s a healthy situation for the PC gaming sector to be in.”

Heh, i’d say its ‘healthier’ for the PC fanboys then it is for the PC sector.