Famed writer Stephen King gave Remedy the rights to use one of his famous lines in the opening of Alan Wake and charged just $1 for it. The game begins with the protagonist quoting King in a description of what nightmares really mean.
Remedy boss Sam Lake said in an interview with eurogamer who “very, very, desperately wanted” to be able to open the game with a line from King himself, whose stories have the same supernatural vibe as Alan Wake.
Lucky for Remedy, King was willing to help and decided to provide the rights to use his speech for just $1, a gesture Lake called “very generous.”
Alan Wake features numerous references to King – alongside other influences such as the works of HP Lovecraft and the TV shows Twin Peaks and The Twilight Zone.
“Nightmares exist outside of logic, and there is little fun in explanations; they are antithetical to the poetry of fear,” said Stephen King.
King’s line used in Alan Wake was written by him in a article made for Entertainment Weekly in 2008, called “Why Hollywood Can’t Make Horror,” which discusses the failure of high-budget studios to adequately capture fear while courting audiences.
