Alan Wake Remastered will be stripped of the original game's product placement

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Alan Wake
(Image credit: Remedy Entertainment)

Remember all that less-than-subtle product placement in Alan Wake; the Verizon billboards, the Energizer batteries, and even the limited selection of cars Alan could see? Well, there's good news for those of you who might have been put off by the brazen in-game advertisements; the ads will all be removed in the remaster.

​​An unnamed PR representative for Alan Wake Remastered reportedly told Screen Rant that the upcoming remaster will not feature any of the branded ads and will instead "be replaced with generic in-universe branding".

While it might not sound like a big deal, many of the branding partnerships at the time played an integral part in the game, such as Alan's Energizer flashlight and accompanying batteries. For some, it helped ground the horror game in our everyday reality, while others found the audacious ads a touch off-putting. Now, it sounds as though Wake can use any old batteries he finds, as the advertising agreements have all now expired and will not be honored in the remaster.

There's also good news for those of you who enjoyed the songs and TV shows, too; all of those will remain intact. Yay!

Remedy has also confirmed that it's working on a new game set in the same universe as both Control and Alan Wake, too, which may be an entirely new IP. Here's hoping we'll hear more sooner rather than later, eh?

Here's why we think Alan Wake remains one of Remedy's best and most memorable games.

Vikki Blake
Vikki Blake
Weekend Reporter, GamesRadar+

Vikki Blake is GamesRadar+'s Weekend Reporter. Vikki works tirelessly to ensure that you have something to read on the days of the week beginning with 'S', and can also be found contributing to outlets including the BBC, Eurogamer, and GameIndustry.biz. Vikki also runs a weekly games column at NME, and can be frequently found talking about Destiny 2 and Silent Hill on Twitter.