Alan Wake and Alan Wake Remastered will have different ending songs starting next week

LOS ANGELES - 1973: Musician David Bowie performs onstage during his "Ziggy Stardust" era in 1973 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

(Image credit: Getty Images)

In our latest reminder that licensed music is a headache that most videogames could do without, Remedy has announced that the David Bowie classic Space Oddity will be removed from Alan Wake next week.

Space Oddity plays over the Alan Wake credits roll, and it seems reasonably on-point: The tale of a man utterly alone, helpless, slowly floating toward his doom, but overcome with awe and at an odd sort of peace with the whole thing—and, in his final moments, thinking of his deep love for his wife. And hey, even if you don't buy my ideas of thematic similarities, it's just a great song.

David Bowie â€“ Space Oddity (Official Video) - YouTube

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Next week, though, it'll be gone—from some versions of Alan Wake, anyway. "Alan Wake (2010) will receive an update on September 10th at 11am UTC," Remedy tweeted. "The update will be to all PC versions (Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG). This update removes the song Space Oddity from the game due to changes in licensing, and replaces it with a new original song by Petri Alanko, Strange Moons. Alan Wake Remastered (2021) will not be affected by the update."

🛠️ Alan Wake (2010) will receive an update on September 10th at 11am UTC. The update will be to all PC versions (Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG). This update removes the song Space Oddity from the game due to changes in licensing, and replaces it with a new original song by Petri Alanko, Strange Moons. Alan Wake Remastered (2021) will not be affected by the update. — (Image credit: Remedy (Twitter))

This is far from a new thing in the world of videogames, and as outcomes go it's about as good as it gets. Sometimes music just gets removed from games but in other cases, as with Spec Ops: The Line earlier this year, expiring licenses cause games to be removed from sale completely. Alan Wake itself was pulled from storefronts in 2017 because of expiring music music licenses, although it was brought back in 2018 after Microsoft negotiated a new deal with the rightsholders.

This time around, though, Remedy is out in front of the situation. Bowie's track will be quietly swapped out with an original work by Alanko, and that should make fans happy: He's composed music for every Remedy game since the original Alan Wake, so he should have a pretty good grasp on the vibe we're all looking for.

Written from a point of view of an astronaut who does have quite a few problems. But even _that_ is okay, as it is what it is. It wasn’t completely out of scratch (heh), as a section of the song was originally in a level in OG AW, but that level was cut out long before release. — (Image credit: Petri Alanko (Twitter))

Remedy didn't say why Space Oddity is being pulled from the original Alan Wake but will remain in Alan Wake Remastered, but our assumption is that the remastered release is newer and thus the licensing deal will expire later, even though they're essentially the same game. Seems silly to me, but such is the way of the world sometimes—especially when it comes to business deals.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.