Double Fine is taking a fresh batch of game pitches to potential funding partners after regaining its independence from Xbox, studio founder Tim Schafer said in a wide-ranging BBC News interview.
Schafer described the past year as “a lot.” The studio heard rumors about its future, learned they were true, decided to go independent and completed the negotiations needed to separate. The result feels exciting, frightening and familiar, he said, but it has also changed his daily work. Instead of writing dialogue, he has been calling publishers and presenting games in search of new backing.
“It's only temporary until we sign these games,” Schafer said. The interview did not identify the projects, prospective partners, budgets or release windows.
A strategy mismatch, not a bitter exit
Schafer framed the separation as a change in fit. When Double Fine joined Microsoft about seven years ago, he said, its mission included supporting Game Pass. The studio placed about 13 older and new games on the service. He now believes Xbox is shifting toward fewer, larger franchises, while Double Fine wants to keep making a larger number of smaller original properties.
That difference led the two sides to go their separate ways, according to Schafer. It did not turn him against Game Pass. He said the subscription can lower the risk of trying unusual games, because players do not have to make a separate $70 purchase for an unfamiliar idea. He also stopped short of judging the service's business sustainability, saying that was outside his role.
Schafer praised Xbox's treatment of the studio during its ownership. He said Microsoft let Double Fine remain itself, enabled it to pursue larger creative ambitions and helped the team finish and improve Psychonauts 2 after it lost its previous publisher. Joining Xbox was “exactly the right thing” at the time, he said.
Small experiments are part of the plan
The newly independent studio is already testing ideas through Amnesia Fortnight, its recurring two-week game jam. Schafer said Double Fine has about 60 employees and split them into four teams. Kickstarter backers chose four concepts from 26 pitches, and they will later vote on one prototype to receive another month of polish and a release through the studio's new Double Fine Action Labs label.
That process fits Schafer's interest in making more bets at a smaller scale. He said established series such as Psychonauts or Brutal Legend could return, but the studio is currently concentrating on original work. No sequel was announced in the interview.
Layoffs remain the larger worry
Schafer was less certain about why the wider games business continues shedding jobs. He said he once viewed layoffs and rehiring as a cycle, but believes the downturn has continued for roughly four years even as people keep playing games and companies keep making money.
