14 DAY TRIAL // Mystery and controversy are always a good thing about a survival horror, and so are shocking announcements and tragedy, but this time some might say that Microsoft went a bit too far. After being announced five years ago as a PC game, as well as an Xbox 360 one, Microsoft, the Alan Wake's publisher, has announced that, in the end, it has become an Xbox 360 exclusive. The first signs of the PC version's demise began to surface in mid-2009, when Remedy announced that, while it wasn't completely halted, the PC version's development process was no longer a priority, and that the company was focusing on the Xbox 360 one instead.
Talks concerning the fate of the game continued after that, and the last time the topic was mentioned, Remedy left the PC version of Alan Wake in the hands of Microsoft, hands that have now decided to kill it. The announcement was made during last week's X10 event held by the giant corporation. "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," a Microsoft spokesperson said when talking to Strategy Informer, according to Eurogamer.
He further added that, "We ultimately realized that the most compelling way to experience 'Alan Wake' was on the Xbox 360 platform, so we focused on making it an Xbox 360 exclusive. Both Microsoft and Remedy have long histories in PC game development. This decision was about matching this specific game to the right platform."
And while it's hard to comment, with the title not released yet, there are a ton of other survival horrors that performed excellently on the platform, the PC being a home for frights and night terrors for a very long time. After having already suffered plenty of delays, the game is slated for a May 18 launch in North America at the moment, but, this time around, as an Xbox 360 exclusive title.