If you’ve ever thought about buying the 2010 cult classic Alan Wake then now is the time. The game has had a massive 90% off price drop (at least on Steam). The reason? The game is about to be pulled from retail stores and digital marketplaces, such as Steam and Xbox.
According to developer Remedy Entertainment, Alan Wake will be removed from all retailers on Monday, May 15th. The cause for the removal is apparently music featured in the game that has had its license expire. Remedy is promising to look into getting the licenses renewed, but that isn’t too likely considering how old the game is, and how little value would come from keeping it available to new buyers.
Luckily, even if you miss out on this end of the line sale, you’ll still be able to enjoy some content from the series. Alan Wake: American Nightmare will remain in stores and online. Remedy explained that they performed the negotiations of that game’s music, so it is still active. However, another entity got the rights to the original game’s music, causing this problem.
This isn’t a new occurrence. We’ve seen games get pulled from stores for different reasons before, including music licensing. The Rock Band and Guitar Hero series is notorious for this, with many DLC songs appearing and disappearing due to license problems. Still, it’s an interesting new element of today’s gaming market. With the shift to digital game purchases it is often easier to find games, but once they’re removed they are gone forever. Luckily if you have purchased the game already it will permanently remain in your library, so no worries there.
