Psychonauts 2 Wouldn’t Have Launched Without Xbox’s Help

Psychonauts 2 released last year to a very positive reception from the players and critics. This was a big success considering the turbulent development of the game. Many didn’t even think it would see a release because Double Fine had no money to make it. The studio did everything they could to get funding and launch their passion project. And the sequel did finally see the light of day last August. But, this would have never happened if Xbox didn’t acquire Double Fine according to Aaron Greenberg.

Xbox GM Aaron Greenberg said in a recent interview that Xbox injected a lot of money into Double Fine studios. This helped them launch Psychonauts 2. In a sit down with Xbox studio, Greenberg talked about the games launch in detail. The GM said:

When we contacted Double Fine, they had a limited budget for Psychonauts 2, so they were going to launch the game with what they had.

This fits in with what we know about the sequels development. Double Fine had to ask a lot of money from fan funded campaigns and couldn’t ask for more. So, the studio certainly didn’t have enough to make Psychonauts 2 as good as they wanted it to be. The financial help from Xbox was necessary. Greenberg says that:

After the purchase, we injected a lot of money into the studio, in addition to providing an entire team of developers to support the game, also providing new teams of animators, new technologies and much more.

Therefore the funds provided by Xbox were crucial to the project. Psychonauts 2 may never have been launched if Xbox didn’t provide the required financial help. Double Fine have said that the game was limited by the funds. So, even if the release took place, the reception was going to bad enough to kill the series. Hence, this acquisition by Xbox allowed us to have an amazing sequel.

In addition Aaron Greenberg also talked about how Xbox gave Double Fine ample time to make the game. The studio was ready to release it incomplete and not to their vision. However, Xbox told them to complete the game and only launch it when ready according to Greenberg. This further signifies the important contribution of Xbox to the success of Psychonauts 2.

The release of Psyhonauts 2 was a huge triumph for Double Fine. The positivity towards the game really cemented the future of the studio and now we know how Xbox played a critical part in that. We are yet to see the macOS and Linux versions Psychonauts 2. Hopefully Double Fine will announce a release date for them soon and we can’t wait for their next project.