Double Fine, the studio behind Psychonauts and its sequel, has confirmed it now holds the intellectual property and publishing rights to every game it released during its seven years under Xbox. CEO Tim Schafer laid out the situation on the Kinda Funny Games podcast, following the studio's split from Microsoft earlier this year.
"The transfer of the IP came back to us, and we get the publishing rights back to all our games," Schafer said. That means when players buy titles like Psychonauts 2, Keeper, and the recently released pottery brawler Kiln, the money supports Double Fine directly rather than Xbox.
What the split actually changes
There is a catch that is more cosmetic than financial. Storefronts still list Xbox Game Studios as the publisher on some of these games, because, as Schafer put it, "it just takes a while for it all to process." The revenue, he stressed, is already flowing back to the studio. "If you're curious, buying any of our games helps support the studio," he said. "We can turn that money into revenue that helps us extend that runway."
Double Fine is the second former Xbox studio in a week to confirm this arrangement. South of Midnight and We Happy Few developer Compulsion Games, also spun out of Microsoft in the same restructuring, recently said it too retains ownership of its IP and that buying its games supports the team.
The backdrop is Xbox's wider reorganisation, announced by CEO Asha Sharma in July, which affected around 3,200 roles across the division. Several studios were cut loose into independence while keeping their catalogues. For Double Fine, independence came at a cost: the studio laid off roughly a quarter of its 90-person team last month, with Schafer describing the cuts as reaching "a size that we can sustain."
Amnesia Fortnight returns via Kickstarter
With independence comes a return to old habits. Double Fine is reviving its Amnesia Fortnight game jam, the internal event that previously produced games like Costume Quest and Stacking, as a Kickstarter campaign running from August 31 through most of September.
Backers get a say in what gets made. "Everyone at Double Fine gets to pitch a game," Schafer explained. "If you join that, you get to help vote for which one we actually make, and we'll make like four of them, and then you get to vote on which one we [work on] for a little bit longer to polish up and actually release." The whole process will be filmed and turned into a documentary.
Schafer framed all of this as buying time. "It's a runway, not a freeway, it doesn't go forever," he said, adding that the studio wants to sign new game deals while it can operate under its own power. According to PC Gamer, he also teased a major update for Kiln arriving next week, bringing new maps, new modes, and a price drop.
What it means for players
If you have been holding off on Double Fine's back catalogue over where the money goes, the answer is now clear: purchases of Psychonauts 2, Keeper, and Kiln feed the independent studio directly, even where the storefront still shows Microsoft's name. Anyone tracking what Double Fine builds next should watch the August 31 Kickstarter, since backers will effectively help pick which prototype becomes the studio's next release. The Kiln update landing next week is the nearest concrete thing on the calendar.
