Remedy Entertainment – makers of Alan Wake – will be removing the game from stores (like Steam and the Xbox marketplace) “after 5/15 due to expiring music licenses.”
The silver lining is that Remedy is offering a whopping 90% discount starting May 13th, 10AM PST, lasting 48 hours.
The game will also be removed from the Xbox store, but when asked if the same sale will be available for console gamers, Remedy could only say “we don’t know”.
For those with a full hard drive, Remedy says you will be able to download the game after it’s removed from the store as long as you purchase before the deadline.
Alan Wake: American Nightmare will remain on the store.
When twitter user @grumpytrooper asked if they could “patch the music out and add free tracks instead ?”, Remedy replied “Its massively more complex than that.”
Leif Johnson – reporter for VICE: Motherboard asked the similar question “Aren’t the licensed songs just at the end of the episodes? Couldn’t you just remove them?”
Remedy replied “It is really not so simple for a large variety of engineering, resources, etc reasons.”
The Songs
The songs in question are used to punctuate the ending of each episode. Here’s the list.
Episode 1 – Roy Orbison – In Dreams
2 – Poe – Haunted
3 – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Up Jumped the Devil
4 – Old Gods of Asgard – The Poet and the Muse
5 – Poets of the Fall – War
6 – David Bowie – Space Oddity
Special One – Anna Ternheim – No I Don’t Remember
Special Two – Depeche Mode – The Darkest Star
Diagetic Music (played within game)
Harry Nilsson – Coconut
Among the Oak & Ash – Shady Grove
The Rumble Strips – Back Bone
Violet Indiana – Air Kissing
Remedy Entertainment’s first break-out hit was 2001’s Max Payne. Since then, their biggest releases have been Max Payne 2, Alan Wake, and the experimental game/series Quantum Break.
They’re currently working on Crossfire 2 and Project 7.