It is, to be clear, March 31. It is not yet April Fool’s Day. Bear that in mind as I tell you that one of the more reliable videogame industry insiders out there says that Remedy and Epic are entering into a deal to make Alan Wake 2. According to the report, this is part of a new effort from Epic to help fund the creation of new PC games from the ground up.
“I’ve heard that Remedy is going to be making Alan Wake 2 with Epic,” journalist Jeff Grubb says on a recent live stream, “and it should be the follow-up that fans of that series want. There was a bidding war [over Alan Wake], but Epic had the best publishing deal. So Alan Wake 2 seems like it’s coming. I don’t know exactly when they’ll announce it, but this is what I’ve heard.”
According to Grubb, Epic’s plans to finance new games in this way are a response to criticism over their previous strategy of buying exclusive distribution rights for games that were already near release. The idea is that a game like Alan Wake 2 might not otherwise get made if Epic’s not funding it, and thus they’ll have a more reasonable story to tell players about why these games are exclusive to the Epic Games Store.
Grubb adds that he has “no idea” what this means for a potential Control sequel. (The original Control already had plenty of ties into the Alan Wake fiction, so maybe the distinction doesn’t even matter that much.)
Rumor: Remedy's project that they are doing together with Epic Games is ALAN WAKE 2 according to Game Mess Show mastermind Jeff Grubb
Full episode: https://t.co/iWY1RjyBs6 pic.twitter.com/cMzTKgMvv2
— Nibel (@Nibellion) March 31, 2021
My only question – Jeff, why would you do this to yourself, becoming the figurehead of the hopes and dreams of an army of Alan Wake fans? Sounds like way too much pressure for me, man.