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[Sorcerer]

Ninja Theory should make the next Grim Fandango and Double Fine should make the next Hellblade.

 

[pqueue]

i bet Bend Studios gets fully shut down before Double Fine id

 

[Chukhopops]

It's sad to see that a lot of people, when shown a game concept that doesn't immediately match established gameplay patterns of a specific genre, reject it on the basis of it being weird or because they don't understand immediately how it plays.

Those should be good things! With this kind of mindset you'll only get an endless stream of copies of whatever already works, with no room left for creativity.

And to be clear this isn't about Double Fine, you could apply the same argument to other developers. It's just sad to see people have the neuroplasticity of 90-year olds.

 

[bender]

It's sad to see that a lot of people, when shown a game concept that doesn't immediately match established gameplay patterns of a specific genre, reject it on the basis of it being weird or because they don't understand immediately how it plays.

Those should be good things! With this kind of mindset you'll only get an endless stream of copies of whatever already works, with no room left for creativity.

And to be clear this isn't about Double Fine, you could apply the same argument to other developers. It's just sad to see people have the neuroplasticity of 90-year olds.

That's what I like about Double Fine even if I don't love their games, even their poorer efforts are at least interesting and their style is unmistakable.

 

[Cakeboxer]

I hope not. Psychonauts 2 was the best 3d platformer i played in many years.

 

[Walliwallipaloo]

I just don't understand. Why don't Double Fine's games sell?
/sarcasm

 

[calico]

They have a shockingly high reputation for a company that has released predominantly "meh" titles.

The reputation is largely inherited from Schafer's earlier work at LucasArts (Full Throttle, Grim Fandango etc), with Psychonauts being the only DF game that's contributing. The rest of DF's output has just been 'ok' enough to avoid destroying that reputation.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Imagine if all these studios were out in the wild, trying to sell their games on their own.

Wish MS purchased Mimimi games as well.

As for Keeper, we are getting another game from them after Psychonauts 2. Which is one more than what we would have got otherwise.

I will take it.

 

[Sebastian1295]

Yeah, that's Keeper.

And you're right it looks weird for the sake of being weird, like a demo out of one of their "game jams" that they unfortunately decided to put resources and time into

Ya i looked at the trailer again because they showed that game at like the very end of the xbox showcase and i had no idea wth i was looking at. It looked incoherent and i just don't understand it truthfully. You're a walking lighthouse going through levels.... why. I just don't get it and even looking at it again i don't get it haha.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Ya i looked at the trailer again because they showed that game at like the very end of the xbox showcase and i had no idea wth i was looking at. It looked incoherent and i just don't understand it truthfully. You're a walking lighthouse going through levels.... why. I just don't get it and even looking at it again i don't get it haha.

Try Fifa or COD.

 

[Sebastian1295]

Try Fifa or COD.

No ty i played COD as a teen and then got tired of it because it was the same thing yearly. And i play indie games and double A games plenty 'falcom says hello' but this game is just too bizarre for me personally. If you like it and are going to buy it then i hope you enjoy it man.

 

[crackajack]

Don't know what the fuck they're thinking going from Psyconaughts to playing as a fucking lighthouse. Biggest dissapointment in the show

The idea is neat somehow, light having some potential, but I am hardly sold on the idea yet. The whole thing is certainly risky which is something the industry is missing. The player character is obviously stiff to move, so hardly a fast platformer, more of a puzzle game I assume and I guess personality should come via that bird companion???

 

[CamHostage]

They specifically bought many of the studios you mention above due to their small size and unusual style of games they make, many of which are niche. To enrich their lineup with lots of diverse games.

No one is expecting Double Fine to do anything other than what they have always done...

Yes, but MS bought Double Fine and other studios in the boomtime of XB Game Pass, in the rise of the streaming empires, at the time when pure "content" was all that mattered and it didn't matter if it was a TV show or a game or a podcast so long as it meant time spent on their service and a subscription committed to the platform.

Time has changed since then...

It's still the case that these megapublishers just think in terms of pure volume and retention through addiction (and neglect of the bill), but the boomtime has bust. No content provider is safe anymore simply because they 'don't cost that much'. Nothing about the brutal past five years of layoffs and studio closures and franchise cancellations would give an indicator that any company of any size is comfortable ignoring as you call it a "rounding error". These corporations are looking for every penny to be saved even when they have all the money in the world. A SF-based studio with 100 employees which has produced 1 game in 6 years under ownership and is following that up with a lighthouse-based videogame curio is not a place I would consider safe if I worked there in this era, no matter who owns the company.

 

[CamHostage]

I kind of feel like they could end up splitting off from Microsoft and going back to being independent (again?) — didn't this happen once before in the early 2000's after Psychonauts shipped?

I hope so. It makes the most sense to me as a future for the company. There was a time the MS buyout made sense because Double Fine used to be a scrappy, fast-paced studio (and also spawned many more games through partner studios with the Amnesia Fortnite / Double Fine Presents development community it fostered, although oddly, their indie incubation system was the first to go under MS.) However, they do not seem to have been as agile after acquisition. (In the time of multi-year development timelines, it's tough to tell how what else might be going on besides Keeper since that's a smaller effort? Psychonauts 2 was justifiably an all-hands-on-deck situation, but that game was almost 4 years ago. Maybe Keeper is part of a slew of small games like when Stacking and Iron Brigade and Costume Quest content all came out one after another, and we just don't know about any others yet, or about the next "big" Double Fine game alongside this. Or maybe the company really has staked its future on a stealth-action lighthouse hero game?)

As I said in my previous post, the reasons MS had for buying the studio originally are now of a bygone era for a very different planned future for Xbox. If Double Fine was kicking out 3-4 games a year like in its brighter times then it'd make more sense how they fit at Microsoft.

 

[MMaRsu]

I mean it looks weird as shit, and not really enticing. I do have faith in Df tho

 

[Skifi28]

They'll be Fine.

 

[Black_Stride]

Imagine if all these studios were out in the wild, trying to sell their games on their own.

Wish MS purchased Mimimi games as well.

You should watch/read the development of Psychonauts 2 before Microsoft acquired them they tried crowd funding the game and got some dough, not enough to make a game in the US but a good start.

Starbreeze was supposed to be their publisher, and Starbreeze was gonna be getting something like 80% of the profit till their investment is returned.......then they were still gonna be eating some 60% of any money the game made.

Being an Independent game studio that makes lets call it less mainstream games must be a heart attack waiting to happen.

Like you I think its not a bad idea to have MS buy these studios to keep them alive at the very least, as long as they dont force them to do projects they dont want to do.
Not every game needs to fit into a specific mold or sell trillions of units.

Unless the game sell 4 trillion units, no way MS keeps DF alive. Games these just cost way too much and development takes too long for a weird game the keeper.
Same with Compsion Games (South of Midnight) and Ninja Theory (Hellblade 2). Give it a few months and they are #rip

Even counting the rough development of Psychonauts 2 i dont think the game crossed 25 million in budget.
The game did atleast 2 million first year, which yeah isnt alot compared to CoD but on its budget it probably made a profit and thats enough......if it made a loss, the amount would be a rounding error on the Microsoft books cuz they just arent an expensive studio.

So they dont actually need to sell trillions and trillions of copies, legit if they can get to a million im sure they are sorted for their next game and the next.
Once the PS5 and Switch versions of Keeper come out the game is in the green easy work.


Same with Compulsion Games and Ninja Theory, these are small studios, it doesnt cost them as much to make games and the amount they need to sell to be profitable isnt as high as AAA games.
Their losses as a result are also by comparison small to a publisher like Microsoft so as long as the costs to go up astronomically MS is likely keeping these guys in business for a minute.


The studios you need to be worried about is the ones that cost alot to make games take long to make said games, and then theres no returns.

 

[geary]

Just because the closed on branch of Arkane and Tango (which was the only asian studio....maybe that's the reason they closed it), that means they will close all their studios.
You guys are tripping...By your account no studio should be alive after they release a game...The industry will have 5 studios overall.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

You should watch/read the development of Psychonauts 2 before Microsoft acquired them they tried crowd funding the game and got some dough, not enough to make a game in the US but a good start.

Starbreeze was supposed to be their publisher, and Starbreeze was gonna be getting something like 80% of the profit till their investment is returned.......then they were still gonna be eating some 60% of any money the game made.

Being an Independent game studio that makes lets call it less mainstream games must be a heart attack waiting to happen.

Like you I think its not a bad idea to have MS buy these studios to keep them alive at the very least, as long as they dont force them to do projects they dont want to do.
Not every game needs to fit into a specific mold or sell trillions of units.




Even counting the rough development of Psychonauts 2 i dont think the game crossed 25 million in budget.
The game did atleast 2 million first year, which yeah isnt alot compared to CoD but on its budget it probably made a profit and thats enough......if it made a loss, the amount would be a rounding error on the Microsoft books cuz they just arent an expensive studio.

So they dont actually need to sell trillions and trillions of copies, legit if they can get to a million im sure they are sorted for their next game and the next.
Once the PS5 and Switch versions of Keeper come out the game is in the green easy work.


Same with Compulsion Games and Ninja Theory, these are small studios, it doesnt cost them as much to make games and the amount they need to sell to be profitable isnt as high as AAA games.
Their losses as a result are also by comparison small to a publisher like Microsoft so as long as the costs to go up astronomically MS is likely keeping these guys in business for a minute.


The studios you need to be worried about is the ones that cost alot to make games take long to make said games, and then theres no returns.

Yeah, I watched entire Psychodeyssey. Spent a couple of months on that.

One of their senior said we cannot keep developing this game (Psychonauts 2) cause then its cost will exceed whatever lifetime potential sales it can get.

Which is big reason why some good developers are simply giving up these days. Their games are not expected to recoup the development costs.

 

[GymWolf]

I don't give enough fucks about their games tbh.

 

[Astray]

They'll be Fine.

I see what you did there lol.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

They'll be Fine.

But will they be Double Fine?

 

[dead monkey uk]

I actually think Double Fine will be ok, they are probably doing what MS expects from them, Releasing Indie/AA style games that review well and sell enough to cover the studio.

If you are looking for a Studio that might be in trouble in the future, I would put my money on Turn 10. Years between games and very little buzz after the initial Game Pass release.

 

[Skifi28]

But will they be Double Fine?

Let's not exaggerate now.

 

[Porcile]

Considering that Grim Fandango is an incredible work of art, I think the most disappointing(?) thing about Double Fine is just how kind of ugly their games are. And it seems to be on purpose too.

 

[Heisenberg007]

I think Double Fine has enough of a goodwill (at least for now) that Keeper will sell enough to keep them afloat.

Having said that, I was shocked to see their small, unambitious game. Couldn't believe that they have been working on this since they released Psychonauts 2 in 2021. So something will definitely change. I see a few layoffs after the launch, but I think the studio will live on.

Can't say the same for Ninja Theory or Compulsion though. They are proper dead-weights.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Psychonauts 2 was great up until they pulled the "AHA GOTCHA!!" moment with the two dudes being gay and married out of nowhere or they were at least a couple.

Dont give two shits about them after that

I didn't go that far. I played for ~3 hours I think, waiting for the game to become good, but it left a sour taste.

I can't believe the high metacritic score and the high praise that game got. It was really mediocre. I should have refunded that game, if only for that additional hour.

 

[Mokus]

I hope Microsoft will allow them to become independent and keep their IPs.

 

[CuteFaceJay]

Pretty sure that MS is seeing Double Fine as the Wes Anderson of the games industry. They'll be kept around.

 

[StueyDuck]

DF do a lot of production/consulting/collab stuff on the side as well as "outreach" which MS can get a nice fat tax write-off on.

The studio has almost always consisted on being on the edge of collapse ever since inception, they have their grifts to get on by, they just need their one game every few years to make some sort of splash.

If anything Gamepass will be the death of DF.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Keeper actually looks a lot more appealing than some of Double Fine's previous games. It's not as quirky even though you control a lighthouse and it should be one of those small cool Game Pass adventure puzzle games, like Planet of Lana, Cocoon and many others.

 

[hemo memo]

But will they be Double Fine?

They will be Double Fin

 

[Punished Miku]

Keeper is up near the top of my list for anticipated games this year. It seems to me that they're holding back as much as they possibly can so that people don't get spoiled. The game description just says that you're a lighthouse exploring realms unknown. It's about as cryptic as possible.

Definitely looks original. With how good the game looks graphically and artistically, I think it could be neat. You're probably controlling the light source also so that will look good I imagine.

As for shutting down Double Fine, I seriously doubt it. They also probably have 2 other projects going. They usually are making multiple games, quickly. I'm wondering if now that they seem set up on Unreal 5 if we're going to start seeing multiple games from them in a row like Obsidian.

 

[Orbital2060]

Unless the game sell 4 trillion units, no way MS keeps DF alive. Games these just cost way too much and development takes too long for a weird game the keeper.
Same with Compsion Games (South of Midnight) and Ninja Theory (Hellblade 2). Give it a few months and they are #rip

I dont think people got it.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

But will they be Double Fine?

More like Double Fire.

 

[Kvally]

Unless the game sell 4 trillion units, no way MS keeps DF alive. Games these just cost way too much and development takes too long for a weird game the keeper.
Same with Compsion Games (South of Midnight) and Ninja Theory (Hellblade 2). Give it a few months and they are #rip

 

[Stafford]

Oh great, more doom and gloom.

 

[Kvally]

They'll be Fine.

 

[Wildebeest]

They will shut them down when Tim Shafer leaves, sets up a competing studio next door, and starts poaching employees.

 

[Astray]

This won't be a bestseller, but it is not going to cost them COD money either.

I think the biggest threat to this studio is Microsoft stepping away from being a console maker, and this is the kind of game you greenlight when you want to push consoles.

 

[NeverYouMind]

I am hoping The Keeper is a side project and that they are earning their keep with another production.

 

[Zacfoldor]

Sometimes I wish Double Fine would just do the games I want them to do and stop making weird shit. Then I remember that Double Fine are free to do what they want. If they weren't I would have never known all their other weird great games. It hurts, loving them but not getting exactly what I want from them, but I just have to remind myself that if they weren't free in the first place I would never have loved them.

I have to remind myself that some birds aren't meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright. And when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up DOES rejoice. But still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they're gone.

I feel the excitement of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope double fine doesn't get shut down. I hope.

 

[Connificent]

What I said was that funny?

I would like Ninja Theory to do a Ninja Gaiden game. I loved DmC.

 

[mckmas8808]

If they were worried about "4 trillion units" they would have released on PS5 and Switch. The game looks like it has a modest budget and nothing to worry about.

It is weird that it's "THIS" game they decided to keep console exclusive.

 

[WhiteWaterM00se]

I originally posted give them Banjo. Instead, I actually think give them Crash or viva piñata.

 

[Mr Hyde]

If Microsoft shuts down Double Fine I'll never forgive them. They already fucked over Tango. Leave Double Fine Alone!!!!

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

What is up with these threads?

 

[nowhat]

Is this a joke thread? I think Keeper was a highlight for me in the Xbox showcase, and looking forward to eventually playing it on PS5 (preferably Extra, but I'll pay for it even)

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Personally I think both Keeper and Clockwork Revolution are system seller material to me. I would be pissed if they weren't coming to system I own.

Just like Gravity Rush and Nioh 3 are system sellers for me on Playstation side. Instead of their more popular titles.

 

[Kvally]

This won't be a bestseller, but it is not going to cost them COD money either.

I think the biggest threat to this studio is Microsoft stepping away from being a console maker, and this is the kind of game you greenlight when you want to push consoles.

The good news is, they are building a gen 10 Xbox (and future gens). So we should be good!

They will shut them down when Tim Shafer leaves, sets up a competing studio next door, and starts poaching employees.

And then MS will acquire them too