Gamer buys 4,000 copies of Alan Wake, none of them work

[John Elden Ring]

Speaking exclusively to PCGamesN, Alisa is an AV technician and supreme Alan Wake fan.

"What I love the most about Alan Wake and Remedy games in general is their way of storytelling and their absurd attention to detail," she explains. "Alan Wake 2's world especially feels truly alive, with so much hidden lore that many players will miss. A lot of the lore is also just really weird and charming. And Sam Lake is a genius." Having spotted an unusual listing on eBay – two boxes of Alan Wake download codes for $240 – Alisa decided to give it a shot. She is now the owner of 4,000 printed, promotional cards which each contain a separate download for the original Alan Wake.

"I imagine that these download cards originate from a game store that was shut down at some point, and for one reason or another had way too many Alan Wake download cards left on their shelf," Alisa explains. "The cards came in two rectangular cardboard boxes that took a bit of damage in the month they took to arrive from the USA to Finland. Both boxes weigh around 25 kilograms each for a total of 50kg of psychological action thriller goodness."

Having tried about 20 of the cards herself, Alisa (who refers to the bulging boxes of Alan Wake download cards as an "object of power," in a loving, tweeted homage to Control) says she has contacted Microsoft customer support to see if it's possible to make any of them work. It seems however that the cards were never activated by the store that purchased them and that they are likely more than ten years old. You might be thinking 'why?' Why buy 4,000 Alan Wake download cards? Alisa has the answer.

"The short answer is 'it's funny,'" she explains. "The long answer is that I'm currently in the process of making an Alan Wake 2 fan video that is inspired by Alan Wake 2's live-action cinematics, and as soon as I saw the eBay listing for 4,000 Alan Wake download cards, I had a vision in my mind for a scene that would use an absurd amount of those things. After that's done, I'll probably cover a wall in my room with the cards, because that sounds funny. Also, I just really love Alan Wake."

 

[peter42O]

It's definitely funny. Can't believe that those cards which are about 14 years old can even still be purchased let alone working.

 

[Zzero]

It's definitely funny. Can't believe that those cards which are about 14 years old can even still be purchased let alone working.

Read the article, they were an ebay listing.

Edit: FWIW, as a game collector that price sounds a little high to me, but only because I don't think people care about cards like they do discs/carts. But buying an unopened carton of games isn't rare, I have an unopened 10 case of some random PSP game (The Warriors?) sitting on a shelf in my closet, for example.