Remedy Boss Blames Weak Advertising for Disappointing Alan Wake Sales

Logan Westbrook

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Feb 21, 2008
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Remedy Boss Blames Weak Advertising for Disappointing Alan Wake Sales

Alan Wake [http://www.amazon.com/Alan-Wake-Xbox-360/dp/B0010AYJXI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287946804&sr=8-1] was a great game, but Remedy's Matias Myllyrine feels that there was confusion about what kind of game it actually was.

It's no secret that Alan Wake didn't exactly set the world on fire when it came out in May. Despite receiving very positive reviews, sales were disappointing, especially compared to the likes of Red Dead Redemption [http://www.amazon.com/Red-Dead-Redemption-Xbox-360/dp/B001SH7YMG/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1287946835&sr=1-1 ] and Super Mario Galaxy 2 [http://www.amazon.com/Super-Mario-Galaxy-2-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B002BSA388/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1287946868&sr=1-1 ], which came out in the same month. Speaking to IGN [http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/112/1129256p1.html], Remedy's managing director Matias Myllyrine blamed the lackluster sales not on anything to do with the game itself, but rather on Remedy's failure to tell people what made it worth playing.

When it was announced in 2005, Alan Wake was an open-world game that let the player explore the town of Bright Falls and the surrounding area at their own pace. Remedy abandoned the open world aspect when it realized that it was very difficult to create tension without a very firm grip on the game's environment. Myllyrine said that he was very happy with the game's atmosphere and mood, but thought that Remedy could have done a better job of managing people's perceptions of the game, and backed those efforts up with stronger advertising that showed off the game's unique features.

This isn't the first time that advertising has been blamed for Alan Wake's low sales figures. Back in July [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102027-Remedy-Blames-Stiff-Competition-for-Poor-Alan-Wake-Sales ], Remedy's head of franchise development Oskari Hakkinen said that "extremely aggressive marketing" from Alan Wake's rivals had made May a "competitive launch window." The truth would seem to lie somewhere in the middle however, with too quiet a signal and too much interference from other games for Alan Wake to really shine.


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Sebenko

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Dec 23, 2008
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Maybe you should have released it on PC?

I wouldn't have bought it, but they could complain about piracy then, like they always do.
 

GiantRedButton

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Well Microsoft made them cancel the Pc version, wehere the fandom of the Developer lies (max paine etc) in order to get another exclusive.
To bad this might be the end of Remedy since they bet the farm on the game.
 

The Shade

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Mar 20, 2008
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News story: Alan Wake Player Blames Weak Game For Disappointing Alan Wake Sales.

I was pretty excited for it before launch. But then I bought it.

My goodness, was that game ever boring. I never even bothered to finish it, it was so disengaging.

Then again, games that are in the works for years and years often don't turn out very well.
 

josemlopes

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Korey Von Doom said:
Senaro said:
I just don't care about horror games.
Well that's good because it wasn't scary, and I found it so bad that I never even finished it.
Why would you find Alan Wake scary if it isnt a horror game? You dont know what Alan Wake is about, it is a Thriller mixed with Action. It isnt a game to scare you
 

Keroyx

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As much as I liked Alan Wake, releasing it around the same time as Red Dead and Mario was pretty stupid.
 

L4hlborg

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I liked the game, but I understand why it didn't sell that well. It wasn't exactly as good as it could have been. The miniseries they made as a promo kinda got my hopes high and made me buy the game, so I wouldn't say there was a problem with the advertising. It was marketed as a psychological horror game. That's not exactly for a huge audience, especially on the xbox.
 

NUMAN01D

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The Shade said:
Then again, games that are in the works for years and years often don't turn out very well.
That's what worries me about the games I've been waiting for so long I forget about them for months at a time... Max Payne 3 and Diablo 3. Both game series I've wasted many days worth of hours playing. Got a funny feeling these 2 won't live up to expectations... time will tell!

I never did buy Alan Wake, when it first came into my store I had indeed heard very little about it... looked like it had a bit of a Silent Hill feel about it, but I'm glad I left it well alone after getting feedback from here and friends. Ouch :/
 

Direwolf750

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personally I didn't hear a thing about the game, good or bad. I heard the name once or twice but I didn't know what it was. So I guess it really didn't advertise correctly.
 

Korey Von Doom

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josemlopes said:
Korey Von Doom said:
Senaro said:
I just don't care about horror games.
Well that's good because it wasn't scary, and I found it so bad that I never even finished it.
Why would you find Alan Wake scary if it isnt a horror game? You dont know what Alan Wake is about, it is a Thriller mixed with Action. It isnt a game to scare you
I know exactly what it is, a poor Stephen King novel, and I was saying it wasn't scary because he said it was horror.
 

ProfessorLayton

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I think the release timing was a bad idea. Red Dead Redemption pretty much is 2010's biggest game next to New Vegas, Black Ops, and Reach and putting out a game anywhere near that time was a bad decision.
 

Woodsey

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I'd love to see a sequel; spending 5 years on it was not a good idea though. Whenever too long is spent on a game it just feels fractured from the iterations it's gone through.

Hopefully Microsoft will have the sense to green-light the sequel and prove they're willing to push something with a bit of originality.