During an April 29 conference call, Alan Wake 2 developer Remedy claimed it cannot speculate on a potential Steam release “at the moment.” The studio expressed hopes players will “find [the game] on the Epic Games Store,” where it is exclusively available for PC users.
Thus far, Alan Wake 2 has been exclusively hosted on Epic Games’ storefront for PC players, with many hoping for a potential move to Steam. Other games have done the same in the past, with timed exclusivity on EGS and an eventual Steam port. However, Remedy called the move to Steam “a speculation which we cannot do at the moment,” implying the company does not have current plans to move away from Epic Games, though the wording leaves the option seemingly open.
We previously reported how Alan Wake 2 still hasn’t generated enough income for Remedy to cover its substantial development costs. This comes despite the game’s critical acclaim and numerous awards, including Best Narrative, Best Game Direction, and Best Art Direction Game Awards. Considering Steam’s dominance as a digital storefront on PC (75 to 80 percent of market share in EU and US regions), Alan Wake 2 may have performed better if hosted on Valve’s shelves.
Players reacted to the conference call in an April 30 Reddit thread, with one top reply nothing their “money is on Steam,” and wished to see the title there in the future. Others in the thread agreed Alan Wake 2 should’ve launched on Steam—but argued Epic’s backing of the game’s development likely means it never will.
In the past couple of years, publishers with their own proprietary storefronts have slowly begun taking their games back to Steam. Prominent examples include Ubisoft and EA Games, especially the former, which focused significantly on its uPlay platform.
