Alan Wake 2 was a smash success in 2023, selling over a million copies and topping several outlets’ Best Of end-of-year lists. It also has not turned a profit according developer Remedy CEO Tero Virtala, who recently said in an interview the game has not yet recouped its advertising budget. One possible reason is that the game released only on digital, no physical disc.
This has become a trend for Triple A studios lately. The equally acclaimed Baldur’s Gate 3 also had no physical release, though it doesn’t seem to have a problem turning a profit. Game studios have been trying to exit the physical media space for years, mostly to avoid the resale market that they can’t get a piece of. While the vast majority of games being bought are now done digitally, physical purchases still make up 30 percent of the market.
Would those customers disappear if all games were digital-only? No, but there are some good reasons that gamers might not be buying stuff like Alan Wake 2 if a physical edition is out of the question.
One primary reason is micro-financing. Outlets like Best Buy, Target, GameStop, and Amazon allow games to be paid for in installments through Klarna, Afterpay, or PayPal’s pay-in-four option, stretching out a major purchase over six weeks. That may not matter for a $20 indie title, but with Triple A games retailing at $80 these days, it does. I have specifically not played Baldur’s Gate because I can’t afford to, but I am playing Final Fantasy VII Rebirth because I could micro-finance it.
There is virtually no way on consoles to pay for digital games in installments. Even buying a gift card to use for the purchase that way is a very big pain in the ass. With digital only, it’s cash up front or nothing, which is a big ask when the game costs more than gas bill for the month.
It’s also still very difficult to gift digital games to someone. Only Steam offers a simple way to send someone a present for their birthday or Christmas. That means that buying Triple A games that are digital only tend to get left out when people splurge on once-a-year purchases for loved ones. There is just something less fun about opening a gift card and telling someone what to buy with it.
Lastly, there is the troubling tendency of game publishers to think gamers don’t actually own their digital copies. PlayStation Plus members lose every game they’ve ever downloaded if they stop paying the monthly subscription. Ubisoft Director of Subscriptions Phillippe Tremblay has said gamers are “too used” to owning games. Sony’s removal of television content even if purchased through their online store has many gamers worried games could be next. One of the greatest horror titles of the last decade, P.T., remains commercially unavailable after Konami removed it from the PlayStation Store even if players had downloaded it, though that was at least a free game.
Losing a game you purchased is bad enough when it’s a small indie title that costs as much as an entrée at Applebee’s. Losing something at Triple A prices is much more irksome. It’s hard to imagine publishers risking customer ire of doing so without a refund, but a bankrupted company might do it. Either way, it’s increasingly likely as studios merely license games digitally to buyers rather than selling them as physical copies.
Being digital only may not be the only reason Alan Wake 2 hasn’t turned a profit, but it’s definitely a reason some people haven’t bought it. Hopefully, other Triple A companies take note.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
