Last week I asked our readers to vote on which Backwards Compatible game I should check next. While the majority vote went to Dead Space, I had to put it on hiatus for a while as Remedy Entertainment shocked the gaming community on Friday, 12th of May 2017: Alan Wake would be removed from the Xbox and Steam stores. The music license for the game is about to expire and they were not able to renew it.
Alan Wake sale on @steam_games 90% discount starting 5/13. Game will be removed from stores after 5/15 due to expiring music licenses. pic.twitter.com/y10DPgY8Q0
— Remedy Entertainment (@remedygames) 12 mei 2017
This means you won’t be able to purchase a new digital copy of the game after the 15th of May 2017. People who already own the game, either physically or digitally will still be able to download it though and Remedy even has a Steam sale (active from 5/13 to 5/15), discounting the game by 90%. As soon as I read this news I decided to marathon Alan Wake over the weekend so I could get the BC article out before the game is removed. (you can look forward to that on Monday morning)
For the first time ever, I did have some issues trying to download the game using the physical disc though. The Xbox One recognised the game as Alan Wake but gave me an error stating it wasn’t a Backwards Compatible title. Luckily rebooting the Xbox started the download process.
For people who did not yet play the game with the DLC: Remedy made both “The Signal” and “The Writer” free on the Xbox Store. You can purchase them for free from the game’s title menu. If you’re going to play it on Xbox One you can find them under Ready to Install afterwards. I would recommend to get these, as they are the “True” ending to the game.
If you don’t get the game by the set deadline, you’ll have to find a physical copy.
Luckily we’re doing a Twitter Giveaway, so be sure to check it out:
RT + Follow to enter our giveaway for an Alan Wake + DLC’s Xbox 360 digital code (Playable on Xbox One) pic.twitter.com/2uAVIuiiqs
— ThisGenGaming (@TGGamingReviews) 12 mei 2017