[FIX] Alan Wake 2 Startup Crash: Resolve the Issue on Epic Games Launcher

Alan Wake 2’s steep system requirements can be a challenge, but startup crashes can make things even more frustrating for players. I experienced this issue myself when I first tried to launch the game, but fortunately, I found a solution fairly quickly.

How to fix Alan Wake 2 Startup Crash

1. After starting the game for the first time, and going through a few initial screens, I encountered an error message called Menu_Authentication_Failed_Epic.
2. I tried various troubleshooting steps, such as updating my GPU drivers, verifying the game files, and restarting my PC, but unfortunately, none of them resolved the issue. However, when I reached out to the support team, they kindly informed me that in order to fix the problem of Alan Wake 2 crashing at startup, I should ensure that background applications like MSI Afterburner and Rivatuner Statistics are not running.
3. Initially, I had my doubts as these background utilities never caused any problems for me. But once I deactivated them, my issue was resolved, and my game started up without any hiccups.
4. I was relieved when my issue got resolved, but I couldn’t help but wonder if Alan Wake 2 would crash again if I decided to use MSI Afterburner and Rivatuner. To my surprise, the game has been running smoothly without any crashes, even with both of these utilities enabled.
5. If you encounter a similar error message when starting up and your game keeps crashing, give disabling any background applications on your PC a shot.