Double Fine, the studio behind Psychonauts, is now independent and holds the keys to the games it made under Xbox. It owns the intellectual property and publishing rights for those releases, giving the studio control over both the games and how they are published.
CEO Tim Schafer confirmed the arrangement during a Kinda Funny podcast appearance. The studio’s message for players is simple: “Buying Any Of Our Games Helps Support The Studio.”
Steam still lists Xbox Game Studios as the publisher for games including Psychonauts 2 and Keeper. Schafer said those storefront pages have not changed because updates take time to process, so the old Xbox credits do not reflect the publishing arrangement Double Fine is operating under now.
Double Fine is rebuilding around its catalog
Double Fine became independent earlier this year after Microsoft allowed it to leave Xbox during a wider restructuring. In July, the studio laid off 23 staff members and reduced its team to a size Schafer said it could sustain. Microsoft’s broader cuts included 3,200 layoffs and changes affecting four studios.
Sales from Psychonauts 2, Keeper, and other Double Fine releases now form part of the studio’s financial base. Schafer said that money, together with the upcoming Kickstarter campaign, should give Double Fine as much runway as possible while it pitches new projects to publishers.
Amnesia Fortnight returns as Double Fine seeks funding
Later in August, Double Fine will begin a Kickstarter campaign built around Amnesia Fortnight, the studio’s annual game jam. The process will be filmed for a documentary, and backers will help decide which idea becomes a small game.
Amnesia Fortnight previously produced projects that became Costume Quest and Stacking. The new campaign gives fans a say in Double Fine’s next small-scale project while helping fund its independent work.
Kiln will receive new content next week
Schafer also teased a content and pricing update for Kiln, Double Fine’s multiplayer pottery brawler. During the week of August 24, the game will receive new maps and modes alongside a price drop.
Double Fine is not the only former Xbox studio handling publishing this way. Compulsion Games, the developer of South of Midnight, is now credited as that game’s Steam publisher, while GamesBeat reported that the studio also has full publishing rights to its games.
For Double Fine, the rights transfer changes what happens after a sale: games that still carry Xbox-era publisher labels can now help finance the studio’s independent future, even if some storefront information has not caught up yet.
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