Stephen King is known as one of the best contemporary writers. He is also generous, as the creators of the game “Alan Wake” found out.
Anyone who has played the game from Remedy knows that the game opens with a cutscene in which the main character quotes King. The text in question is from the essay Why Hollywood Can’t Do Horror published in Entertainment Weekly in 2008. What gamers didn’t know was how much it cost Alan Wake’s creators to use this quote. Well, less than you might suspect.
During a recent interview with Eurogamer, Sam Lake from Remedy finally revealed this secret. For the opportunity to use a fragment of his essay, Stephen King wanted … one dollar. The creators of the game, with Lak at the forefront, were of course very grateful to the famous author. After the production’s release in 2010, Remedy sent King ten copies of the game as a thank you. Unfortunately, he could not play at that time because he did not have an Xbox 360 ( Alan Wake was then an exclusive title for this console).
Alan Wake pays homage to the legendary writer in many ways. The creators of the game drew a lot of inspiration from King’s works, and the protagonist himself is a horror writer. In October this year, thirteen years after the premiere of the original, a full-fledged sequel will debut. Alan Wake 2 will be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.