Alan Wake is 90% Off As Expiring Licenses See It Pulled From Stores

Alan Wake is going to be really cheap this weekend. Developer Remedy Entertainment has announced that Alan Wake and Alan Wake: American Nightmare will be 90 percent off from May 13 to May 15. Why the grand gesture? Is there a new Alan Wake coming? No, the opposite actually. Alan Wake is being delisted from all digital platforms.

The issue is a legal one. Alan Wake has licensed music and Remedy's license is coming to a close. The game used a number of real-world tunes for end-of-episode stringers, including Space Oddity by David Bowie, The Darkest Star by Depeche Mode, and In Dreams by Roy Orbison.

While Alan Wake and Alan Wake's American Nightmare are both on sale, the licensing issue only touches the first game. Alan Wake's American Nightmare will remain listed on all digital stores.

"We are looking into relicensing the music for Alan Wake, but have no timeframe for this," said Remedy Entertainment in a statement. "Remedy negotiated the music licensing for Alan Wake's American Nightmare, we did not negotiate the licensing for Alan Wake's licensed music."

This is one of the growing issues of digital gaming, with licenses meaning that games can come and go on digital platforms. The Marvel games, including Marvel vs Capcom, Deadpool, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance, have all been delisted from digital platforms before. Platinum Games' recent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game is already gone because of license expiration. Other games hit with the curse include Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game, Outrun 2006, and Tetris Axis on 3DS.

Until companies start coming to the table with the understanding that digital games aren't supposed to be ephemeral, this will continue to happen.