A lot of gamers are looking forward to Double Fine Productions’ Psychonauts 2, the long-awaited sequel to the studio’s beloved first game Psychonauts. However, with the financially troubled Starbreeze still down as the Psychonauts 2 publisher, it’s understandable that there are concerns whether or not the Payday 2 and Overkill’s The Walking Dead studio will be able to meet that commitment. While Double Fine seems certain that Starbreeze will still be able to publish Psychonauts 2, the developer is prepared if the publisher backs out.
Double Fine head Tim Schafer spoke with GamesIndustry about these concerns regarding Starbreeze as the Psychonauts 2 publisher. Schafer seems confident that the publisher will still be supporting the game, and said that Starbreeze “have pledged they’re definitely still capable of publishing it… I’ve got no reason to believe Starbreeze isn’t going to come through and publish it well.”
Nevertheless, if the worst comes to the worst, Schafer and Double Fine are confident they’ll be able to finish Psychonauts 2 without problems. This is partly down to the game being funded by multiple sources, including Double Fine’s own revenue and USD$3.3 million from a Fig crowdfunding campaign. Additionally, if Starbreeze dropped out, Schafer believes they’ll be able to find another publisher, and have actually been approached by other publishers already. “There would be enough interest in other people funding it and finishing it if something happened,” Schafer added.
Starbreeze dropping Psychonauts 2 is certainly not without precedent, as it started its publishing deals by signing Psychonauts 2 and OtherSide’s System Shock 3, and it recently sold the rights back to OtherSide for the latter. After the financial flop of Overkill’s The Walking Dead, it’s hard to imagine that Starbreeze has the money anymore to finance the publishing of a game like Psychonauts 2. Hopefully things will work out fine and Double Fine won’t have the same publisher problems that the first Psychonauts had, after moving from Microsoft to Majesco.
