It's been eight years since the original Alan Wake launched for the Xbox 360, and fans have been holding out hope for a sequel since then. While Alan Wake 2 was in development at one point in time, the game was scrapped, and Remedy turned its attention to new IP like Quantum Break. And while various reasons have been given over the years for why Alan Wake 2 isn't being worked on, Remedy CEO Tero Virtala has offered a new reason that puts the blame on Microsoft.

According to Virtala, Microsoft owns the rights to the Alan Wake IP, and so it's Microsoft's decision to move forward with a sequel or not. The same goes for Quantum Break, and Remedy's inability to move forward with sequels to either that game or Alan Wake is part of the reason why it opted to work with a different publishing partner for its next game.

Remedy's next game, which was revealed with a stunning cinematic trailer at E3 2018, is a title called Control. Remedy owns the rights to Control, and if it desires to create a sequel or tell more stories within the world of Control, it will be able to do so without having to get approval from anyone.

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Virtala's comments about Alan Wake 2 seem to stand in contrast to Microsoft's reasoning for not moving forward with a sequel. A couple of years ago, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer said that Remedy has to "want to make" Alan Wake 2 for the project to materialize, and it certainly appears as though Remedy has a desire to make the game.

It's possible that Microsoft is hesitant to make the kind of investment in Alan Wake 2 that it would likely require. Remedy Entertainment's games are known for having especially long development cycles, and they don't always live up to sales expectations. Considering this, it's not entirely unreasonable that Microsoft doesn't want to move forward with a sequel.

However, since Microsoft owns the rights to the Alan Wake IP, then it should be able to create a sequel without Remedy. After all, Remedy is focused on new projects and multiplayer games, so it may simply not have the time to dedicate itself to creating a proper sequel to Alan Wake.

Alan Wake 2 was in development for unspecified platforms.

Source: Gamesindustry.biz