More info here: https://community.remedygames.com/forum/games/alan-wake/320271-alan-wake-sunset-sale-13-15-5-2017

Looks like it could be temporary if they can relicense the music but why wait when it's 90% off?

Consider visiting the store page for the game and see if you have any friends who has it on their wishlist and let them know about this.

Huh, more weird stuff with Remedy. Definitely worth playing if anyone hasn't and is interested.

Just saw that the game has some free bonus material DLC that you just add to your account, http://store.steampowered.com/app/268560/Alan_Wake_Bonus_Materials/

I bet that will not be available either so grab it if you own the game.

@forcen: Thanks for the heads up!

Poets of the Fall have been friends of the studio for a long time so i can't imagine they are the issue, there are a few other songs on the soundtrack but i think we all know what the problem is here... it's f****** Coconut isn't it?

Thanks for the tip! I will definitely be grabbing it. One of my favorite games.

Thanks for the heads up.

God, I've had it in my library for so long now, I really should play the damn thing already..

.. Man, that's fucking weird.

Music licenses expiring, they say; yet I can't remember an instance of this happening with a game or even a movie before. I wasn't even aware you could "rent" music for a contemporary work like a movie or a game for a set time period.

For what it's worth, I think Alan Wake is great. Underappreciated, with a great sense of humour about itself and the horror genre. Ain't perfect by any stretch, but a damn good time nonetheless. Play it if you haven't already. It holds up and then some.

I had a blast with this game when it first came out, I remember absolutely hating the ending though. I might as well give it another go, especially at 90% off, I'll make sure to nap all of the DLC as well.

@do_the_manta_ray: This happened with Forza Horizon 1, the first Grid and the first three Dirt games. I think this is only a thing because games are available as digital downloads.

I thing something like this happened with GTA san andreas, but in that case they actually patched the music out of the game.

for $3, I'll definitely be picking this up tomorrow. had a ps3 last generation so I never had a good chance to play it, but finally have a computer that should be able to run games from that era

@onarum: Instead of patching the game (GTA: San Andereas) they straight up replaced the thing with the android/iOS port which already had removed the music. Probably way cheaper than patching it out.

What they should have done instead is remove the old game from sale and add the android port as a separate product on steam for people who just wanted the game, maybe gift it to existing owners. If they had done that then everyone who bought the old version could still play the game they paid for like it was back then and new customers could get the next best thing. Kind of like this alan wake situation except they don't have a lesser version to sell. Best of both worlds.

At least my hot take on it that I thought of when I saw your post, I bet there it's way more problems that I'm missing. I ain't a lawyer. Also that new version fixed some stuff so the game ran OK on newer systems, still if they gave it existing owners it would be slightly better.

Daaamn that stinks! The soundtrack is great so it's such a shame that it's proving to be it's undoing here. I would recommend people grab it while they have the chance.

It was very common for TV shows, especially in the mid to late -00s when DVD really started kicking in. Companies would license rights to songs for TV release but when they put the DVD out they'd have to change the music because they didn't have any rights to them on disc. The forgotten Keen Eddie is like a pile of dogshit on DVD because they had to cut out the soundtrack which is the only thing breathing life into it. Replacing it with techno didn't exactly help.

Alan Wake is a really solid game in my opinion. Anyone who hasn't given it a chance yet should snag it before they remove it. I paid far more than what it will be going for and I don't regret a single cent of it.

Just heard about this on UPF. Thankgod I have that DRM free GOG version. Gonna make sure I keep a local file safe. I need that Bowie!

I didn't like what I played of Alan Wake but there's no reason not to check it out at that price.

Hunh. I wonder if with this sort of thing possible they feel it was worth it to have the licensed music. I thought it was all great great, but I dunno. Licensing seems kinda scary.

I can see them fixing this issue because Remedy seem like that kind of company to try and appease as many fans as possible, but I wonder how much of a financial drop it would cost to pay for the licenses? I doubt any copies they would sell after it would come back could recoup the costs?

@vierastalo: The Wonder Years to me is the best example. Licensed music was a big part of the soul of that show, and made it nearly impossible to release it on DVD.

I said this when the same thing happened to Forza Horizon - I think this is totally fucked up and is strong evidence of why copyright laws need an entire rewriting and re-thinking that they're not going to get.

I already own Alan Wake, so I don't really need to participate in this sale, but it still sucks to know that people might not be able to buy this game new, as originally intended, two years from now or so.

The same thing happen to Vice City on Steam.

@vierastalo: Huh, you live and you learn, I guess. That's a real bummer. Cheers for explaining it, though.

Is the discount only for the US? It's still listed as $30 for Australia Steam.

This entire issue...is a bunch of corporate horsecrap.

Copyright laws needs to be changed slightly in order to not let this happen. What a travesty. Like it doesn't even impact the music companies at all whether or not the specific music tracks stay in the game or not. And not to mention the game is like what, 7 years old?

Welcome to Garbage City, Number of Citizens: Everyone who thinks this sort of practice is fine.

EDIT: I totally get that IP protection laws are very important but I find that this is not the correct way to handle it. Products being affected because one minor cog in that system expires "interlectually" isn't the point of IP protection laws, which is why I think its silly. This punishes Developers and publishers hundreds of times more than the music industry that will actually benefit from this in a promotional way. I know a lot of people who became 70s-80s music fans because of Vice City.

@probablytuna: it's still £23 in the U.K. store. Shame...

Man, fuck this. Alan Wake is great and people need to play it.

It's a damn good game.

Started playing this just now with the directors commentary DLC enabled and it's pretty cool, it even has a small video of each person talking about each thing. Really good if you are replaying the game.

It should be 1 dollar with the sale, sounds worth it.

just picked it up--$3.99 for the original, the director's commentary, and american nightmare. definitely a very good deal

@zoidberg: Don't forget the free bonus materials, not sure if they include those: http://store.steampowered.com/app/268560/Alan_Wake_Bonus_Materials/

@fledeye it has now come down to 2.99 for the complete franchise on the uk store.

I forgot about this game. Someone gave it to me for free and I still haven't checked it out.

@mage_: I recommend watching the 5 prequel episodes in a dark room, alone, before playing the game. It really sets the mood for the game, just right, and makes it so much more enjoyable. At least, that was my experience. It's a great Halloween time game.

I picked up American Nightmare on the PC just for history's sake (already had the original). This is a real shame.

Man I should play through this game for the fourth time. yeah, that sounds nice.

Did publishers and developers not foresee this stuff when digital downloads got big? I guess it was hard to.

I'm not even a Remedy fan but it was 3,69€ for the game + American Nightmare and some bonus content so hard not to buy it. Plus I like owning a game on Steam that is soon to be not available anymore. Maybe I'll get around to playing it some day, I have come to realize in recent years however that I do not especially enjoy the way Remedy makes their very linear third person action games.

To anyone who hasn't play this game yet: I totally recommend it. Played it for a second time this year and I liked it more than I did the first time. I would advise bumping the difficulty up to Nightmare (you'll need to use a launch parameter to unlock it: -developermenu). Trust me it's not that difficult, but it does make you apply yourself a little. I think the only reason I thought the game was difficult in places the first time I played it was because I was playing on a console. Much easier with mouse and keyboard.

should still be able to download it if you already own it.

Bought the pc-version almost immediately as it came out, ran rough on my modest pc back then. It's runs perfect now, but sadly the gameplay always felt bad for me. I died frequently even on the easiest difficulty setting and I'd like to think that I'm at least moderately skilled in playing vidya games.

It was a real shame, because I really liked the presentation (excluding those beyond terrible facial animations in the cutscenes, that made everyone look like they were having a stroke) and because Max Payne 1 and especially 2 are games that I remember controlling perfectly. I know Alan Wake isn't suppose to be a slick shooter, but it could still control as well as those did.

Still, for this price one should check it out. I always had interest for the game, following it's progress in articles that a finnish gaming magazined had featured over the years, seeing it shifting from it's kinda open-world scale to a smaller one. Of course there was also the whole "Hey, this pc-game you've been hyped for over the years? It's now a 360 exclusive!" gut punch too, which kinda me forgot about the whole game 'till some time after it's release.

A perfect Stephen King homage game: the gameplay itself is pretty standard, but the writing and plot are FANTASTIC. The DLC's great (and expands a LOT of the game) and American Nightmare is totally worth playing, especially all for less than $5.

"We no longer want to accept money for this game." For real though, why would they do this? Something like the cost of supporting the game out ways the revenue it brings in?

@xanadu: Do what? Leave the music in? They can't just patch out the music.

They might relicence the music but not before expiry date. If they do then it will come back to Steam.