As the gaming industry continues to grow every single day, controversies often emerge among fans whenever they feel an unjust incident might have occurred. However, things are often unnecessarily exaggerated by many people, bringing upon situations that could have been easily avoided initially.
The same can be said for Alan Wake 2, Remedy Entertainment’s latest title, which was released in October last year, and has been doing exceptionally well. Unfortunately, users on the internet have accused the studio of race-swapping a significant character of the game, which has prompted the director of the game, Kyle Rowley, to give his remark on the situation.
What Is The Truth Behind The Race-Swapping Allegations Against Alan Wake 2 And Remedy Entertainment
Luckily, the whole situation has been documented and covered well by a user on Twitter with the handle @MachineHidden, who has posted a thread going over all the factors present in the case. This has allowed us to have an insight into how and where the allegations might have originated from.
The above-mentioned thread tells us how Remedy Entertainment has consulted with another company called Sweet Baby Inc., which offers consultant services to studios and helps them focus on DEI, standing for Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion. They have already worked together with major studios, such as Sony’s Santa Monica and Insomniac, and have helped with games such as God of War Ragnarok as well as Spider-Man 2.
The current conspiracy dictates how Sweet Baby Inc., is responsible for telling Remedy Entertainment to not portray the character of Saga Anderson by a white cast. As the user has already stated in his thread, even if this factor was to be potentially true, it should not affect the interpretation of the character and Alan Wake 2 as a whole, as Melanie Liburd did a great job of playing Anderson nonetheless.
Another origin of the ridiculous race-swapping claims originates from the fact that Saga Anderson was initially played by Malla Malmivaara, a white actress in one of the teasers released for the game. This has made the eventual casting of Melanie Liburd a root cause of the controversy.
Director Of Alan Wake 2 Shares His Remark On The Situation
The director of Alan Wake 2, Kyle Rowley, has refused to give any credit to whatever speculations are being made online. Rowley through his personal Twitter account has replied to one of the posts made in the thread mentioned above, remarking about the claim by stating “It’s absolutely not true.” in the text.
Despite all the controversies, Alan Wake 2 has managed to break all the records, as it has become the studio’s fastest-selling game ever, a record it was destined to break in its release. The title also managed to win several awards at The Game Awards 2023, including Best Narrative and Best Art Direction, which should be enough to tell how much effort has been put in by the team to come up with such a great experience.
Alan Wake 2 is available to purchase on Epic Games Store.
