Tim Schafer’s studio has also become fully independent. Therefore, if we were to purchase one of their games now, Microsoft would not benefit financially.
Double Fine recently left Xbox and has since become fully independent. The studio now has full publishing rights to the games it developed under Microsoft, and it receives all revenue from game sales, as CEO Tim Schafer confirmed on the Kinda Funny podcast. Schafer stated that they have gotten everything back; the IP rights have been transferred, and they have regained the publishing rights to all their games. Steam still lists Xbox Game Studios as the publisher for games like Psychonauts 2 and The Keeper, but that’s because it takes time to update those listings. When people purchase their games, they are supporting the studio.
At the end of the month, the studio will launch a Kickstarter campaign centered on the annual Amnesia Fortnight game development marathon. This marathon has led to the creation of some of their previous games, such as Costume Quest and Stacking. The entire event will be filmed and turned into a documentary, and campaign backers will help choose which idea will be developed into a minigame. Schafer explained that the Kickstarter campaign and revenue from the games will help the studio secure as much creative freedom as possible while trying to sell other projects to publishers. In addition to promoting the Kickstarter campaign, Schafer teased the audience with a major update featuring new levels and game modes for Kiln, the recently released multiplayer game about pottery making, as well as an upcoming price drop for it next week.
Last month, Double Fine laid off 23 employees to downsize to a sustainable level, according to a statement written by Schafer at the time. This occurred just over a month after Microsoft spun off the studio as an independent entity and simultaneously launched a major restructuring of Xbox, laying off 3,200 people over the course of a year. Compulsion Games, the developer of South of Midnight and the other studio Microsoft let go, recently announced that it holds full publishing rights to its games as it ponders its next move.
Source: PCGamer, Kickstarter
