Psychonauts 2 has been much awaited by its fans and there is some good news today. Starbreeze, the publishers of Payday 2, have decided to take over for marketing and distribution for this platformer sequel.
Starbreeze stated it is investing $8 million (in US dollars) into the project and is expecting:
“100 percent of its full investment including marketing costs with an initial revenue share of 85 percent after distribution and platform fees and Fig crowdfunding revenue share.”
They also said Double Fine will continue to develop the game and own the IP, however:
“Starbreeze share of revenues will become 60 percent after the investment is recouped. Double Fine will retain 100 percent of the intellectual property relating to Psychonauts 2.”
Double Fine had a very successful crowdfunding campaign, were more than 24,000 fans contributed close to $4 million to get Psychonauts 2 started. On top of the crowdfunding, Double Fine also invested some of its own funds. So the money is very real on this project.
The original Psychonauts was re-released last year for the PS4 and later this month, Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is making its way to PS VR. Psychonauts 2 is set for launch sometime in 2018 on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
Double Fine’s boss Tim Schaffer and designer lead Zak McClendon have appeared in a new video showing off some brand new gameplay footage. They also discuss some story elements, so if you don’t like to spoil things for yourself, STAY AWAY!!
McClendon talks about the improvements the studio has made, like the main characters movements being smoother. What you will see in the video below is not a final level and is only a test environment.
