Tim Schafer, recreation designer and founding father of Psychonauts developer Double Fine, gave a robust response after Xbox divested the studio as a part of its large restructuring efforts this summer season.
Talking with Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier in a September 2026 interview, Schafer admitted that he knew one thing was up earlier than Xbox’s divestment was formally introduced — however he wasn’t about to go down with no combat.
“You’re like, ‘Wait a second, we’re not going out like this,'” Schafer defined. “Some individuals mentioned, ‘I’m trying out, that is one too many battles for me.’ However for the remainder of us, it’s like a artistic awakening.”
“Nobody places Double Fine out of enterprise apart from me,” he continued. “Asha’s not going to shoot my canine. I’m going to shoot it. However I’m not going to shoot it, as a result of it’s going to do nice. Lots of people wish to stroll the canine.”
Fortunately, Double Fine was capable of retain its mental property and turn out to be totally impartial, although it did must lay off 1 / 4 of its employees because of this modification. That isn’t stopping it from making extra video games, although, because the developer just lately printed a Kickstarter for its subsequent challenge — with the addendum that if it raises $100 million, they’ll additionally make Brutal Legend 2.
“We’ve been via loads this yr,” Schafer instructed Schreier. “Lots of it is extremely soul-sucking stuff. Internal battle, threats of extermination, lengthy negotiations, strenuous exhausting tradeoffs with legal professionals. Tons of demoralizing stuff.”
And but, regardless of these challenges, Schafer says he’s been capable of finding a artistic spark that has invigorated each himself and the remaining workforce at Double Fine.
“That is the nice combat. Can we consider an amazing concept for a recreation that we will really do for the precise funds, that may get to this writer who’s keen on a lot of these video games? This sort of problem-solving is soul-enriching. Utilizing creativity to unravel issues is what will get us up within the morning. So it’s exhausting, and it’s scary and it’s disturbing, nevertheless it’s not less than placing some fireplace again into the bellies of the workforce and me,” he mentioned.
Xbox has undergone a slew of main adjustments as CEO Asha Sharma works to make the corporate worthwhile once more. Shedding Double Fine was a part of that change, in addition to large layoffs that affected roughly 3,200 workers.
Sharma has been pretty clear with Xbox’s monetary state and future plans, most just lately telling the BBC that the model’s subsequent technology console, Mission Helix, will embrace a “household of units,” although she notably declined to remark if it’ll have a disc drive or not.
In different Double Fine information, the developer shadow dropped Keeper, a previously Xbox-exclusive title, on PlayStation 5 in the present day now that it is not tied to the corporate.
Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s Information Editor. With ten years of expertise reporting on video games and leisure, she’s bought a storied background within the combating recreation group, influencer information, and viral on-line traits. Discover her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.