Alan Wake had to face many odd shadow creatures in his game but he was only truly taken out by his one true enemy: music licensing. After being delisted from Steam, GOG, and the Xbox Marketplace in May 2017 after failing to renew licensing agreements, Alan Wake is returning to all of the aforementioned services soon. The game is already back on Steam and other platforms will follow.
To celebrate the announcement, developer Remedy is only selling the game for $3, which was close to the “Sunset Sale” discount it received before it vanished from digital storefronts. Microsoft, the game’s publisher, was able to renegotiate the music licensing deals, allowing the digital game to be sold again. The game used songs like “Up Jumped The Devil” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, “In Dreams” by Roy Orbison, “Space Oddity” by David Bowie, and more at the end of its episodes. Remedy sent out a tweet expressing its gratitude especially since landing that deal was not up to them and reworking the game was out of the question.
Big thanks to our partner and Alan Wake’s publishers @Microsoft who were able to renegotiate the rights to the licensed music in Alan Wake, so that the game can be sold again.
— Remedy Entertainment (@remedygames) October 25, 2018
Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, the standalone game set in the same universe, is also on sale for $1.80 on Steam but it was not delisted from any platforms. While this does drum up excitement for Alan Wake, it doesn’t guarantee that we will see more from the esteemed author. While it did seem like a remaster was likely at one point, nothing has come since except the ability to play the Xbox 360 version on the Xbox One through backwards compatibility. Remedy is also busy working on Control, which is a multiplatform game.
