Alan Wake was revealed at E3 2005 as a psychological action thriller with an intense and cinematic adventure and a massive, open world. It was revealed that it was coming to the PC and Xbox 360. The funny thing is, very few of that is true anymore. Now it's a 360 exclusive and linear in gameplay. Microsoft and Remedy Entertainment are continually making up ridiculous excuses as to why they decided to make it an Xbox 360-only game.
Back in July 2009, Markus Maki, Director of Development Remedy said that Remedy was "focusing all [their] efforts on the 360 version" and indicated that they would comment on the status of a PC version later. In a later statement, Remedy said that "PC plans are currently open" but that it was safe to assume that it wouldn't be a simultaneous launch with the 360 version, and that "this decision (The decision of whether or not they'd release a PC version) lies with our publisher" Who's that publisher? Microsoft.
You might expect it to be left at that; it's just business, right? But no, Microsoft would not allow that. Instead, in Febuary (2010), they released a completely asinine excuse for it not coming to the PC. They said that "Some games are more suited for the intimacy of the PC, and others are best played from the couch in front of a larger TV screen. We ultimately realised that the most compelling way to experience Alan Wake was on the Xbox 360 platform"
What makes a 720p TV (Assuming Alan Wake will even play in a 720p native resolution) any better for a thriller? The lower resolution? The BIG television? The couch? Many PC gamers DO play on their couch. Many 360 gamers play on their PC monitors.
This was obviously an ugly mess of an excuse by Microsoft, that ignored logic and the diversity of their customers.
"Why stop kicking a dead horse there?" said Remedy.
About a week after Microsoft's excuse, they claimed that they were too small of a studio. Even if it were true, did it seriously take them 4 years to realize it?
Why didn't they just stop at the fact that their publisher (Microsoft) made them halt the PC version? I'll leave that up to you to decide.
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