Alan Wake 2’s Physical Release Will Require Downloads

The physical release of Alan Wake 2, which was unveiled recently alongside its Night Springs expansion, will still require players to download parts of the game. In an FAQ posted on the game’s official website, developer Remedy has the game will be shipped on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on single discs, with additional downloads being required.

Specifically, taking to ResetEra, game director Kyle Rowley revealed that the base game and the aforementioned Night Springs expansion will both be on the disc. He also added that the second expansion (the upcoming The Lake House) and upcoming patches will not be on the disc.

According to Rowley, however, the studio still hasn’t confirmed how it will be handling the fact that Xbox Series X/S uses an older standard of Blu-ray, which is lower capacity than the PS5’s Blu-ray drive. This means that the Xbox Series X/S discs can’t hold as much data as the PS5 discs can.

Alan Wake 2 was originally released back in 2023 as a digital-only game on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. Remedy announced physical releases for the console versions of the game during the recent Summer Game Fest showcase.