After years of fans asking for a sequel to the cult classic, Double Fine’s officially launched a crowdfunding campaign through Obsidian/Double Fine/InXile-backed funding platform Fig. A quick and dirty description, torn from the Fig page:
And a trailer:
The asking price $3.3 million, from the fans.
“But wait,” you say, “that seems a little low for a game the size of Psychonauts.” Indeed it is. In fact, we know exactly how much Psychonauts 2 is estimated to cost because Minecraft-creator Markus “Notch” Persson famously backed out on funding the game in 2013.
Via Notch:
There’s a pretty big gap between $3.3 million and $18 million. So where’s the rest of that money coming from No specifics were revealed, though Double Fine’s press release says, “Double Fine will be putting up a significant portion of the development funds ourselves, and getting another piece of the budget from an external partner. This Fig campaign will make up the third piece of the budget.”
Double Fine’s Tim Schafer is further quoted saying, “None of these three parts on their own is enough but together they add up to a sequel worthy of Psychonauts!” I’m not quite sure how I feel about this process—it smacks a bit of Shenmue 3’s crowdfunding campaign, and Double Fine’s own crowdfunding record isn’t exactly unmarred. But I’m at least placated a bit by the fact Fig allows for funding through actual investments, not merely giving away money like Kickstarter. We’ll see how it goes.
I want to be excited, though. This project’s been a long time coming, and Double Fine seems to be in the “Give the people what they want” stage of its lifespan, what with Grim Fandango and Day of the Tentacle getting the HD remaster treatment. Hopefully the result is a Psychonauts 2 that’s worth the wait.