Remedy 'Very Pleased' With Alan Wake's Reception

Remedy Entertainment’s Alan Wake has been met with a lukewarm reception by consumers, despite relatively good reviews from critics. The title sold 145,000 units between May 18-29 according to the NPD’s monthly sales numbers. Remedy acknowledged that the title “hit the shelves during a very competitive launch window,” competing against Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption, Nintendo’s Super Mario Galaxy 2, and THQ’s UFC 2010.

Shacknews spoke with Remedy Head of Franchise Development, Oskari Häkkinen about the title’s continuing performance. Despite weak sales, Remedy is “very pleased with the reception of Alan Wake with both the press and the fans alike.”

“We've always tried to stay unique and do something new and different in video games. This breath of fresh air for gamers seems to now be working in our advantage as those that have already enjoyed Wake are clearly inspired to talk more about the game, and tell their fellow gamers to try it also, the word of mouth phenomenon is very apparent with Alan Wake,” Häkkinen told Shacknews.  "There has been a growing interest in the title and it certainly seems to 'have legs' to sustain.”

Remedy believes the unique marketing aspects for Alan Wake will help the title in the long run.

“The Bright Falls webisodes are a great way to get a taste of the stylization, an introduction to some of the characters and the fiction,” said Häkkinen. “Even non gamers have enjoyed them and I highly recommend those that haven't spent the 30 minutes watching the six 5 minute episodes to dive into them, we were really pleased with this marketing approach and it supports the ideology that Alan Wake is not a come and go title, rather something that grows in interest through experience.”

The tepid sales have put the PC version of the title in doubt, with publisher Microsoft being the final arbiter of a PC release. The first DLC for the Xbox 360 version, entitled “The Signal”, will be released on July 27.