Double Fine now part of Xbox Game Studios

[Abu Antar]

Uncle Tim got his slam dunk!

 

[LESS T_T]

They also found dedicated studio for Age of Empires: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2019/06/09/double-fine-productions-joins-xbox-game-studios/

Double Fine Productions Joins Xbox Game Studios

In the past year, we welcomed seven new game development studios to Xbox. It’s great to see some of them already sharing new projects on our E3 stage this year. I have the privilege of working with some of the best creators in the world, and for me successful studios all come down to great people, teams and ideas. We’re always looking for people who share our vision for the future of gaming, teams who have built games over years through both success and adversity, and ideas that become beloved games.

That’s why I’m honored today to announce our intent to acquire legendary game development studio Double Fine Productions.

Under the leadership of industry veteran Tim Schafer, Double Fine has been a beacon of creativity and spirit in game development for almost 20 years with classic games like Pyschonauts, Brütal Legend and Broken Age. At the root of every game is an emphasis on creating crazy worlds with originality, story and fun. That commitment to creating a unique, player-centric experience is what drew us to the studio, and I’m looking forward to seeing what we create together.

With the addition of Double Fine, there will be a total of 15 unique, standalone studios that comprise Xbox Game Studios, including our newly-created Age of Empires studio headed by Shannon Loftis and our Publishing group headed by Peter Wyse. We are committing more resources and dedicated leadership to the Age of Empires franchise to ensure that its legacy on PC continues in service of the passionate community of faithful fans.

I’m proud of the 14 games we showcased from Xbox Game Studios today – the most we’ve ever had in our E3 briefing. We have the full depth and breadth of talent in our studios focused on creating new games for Xbox players, and we’re committed to making them great.

 

[taxalot]

So much for begging money on Kickstarter to launch the indie craze.

 

[taxalot]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=585&v=ssUFuZyu5bw

 

[DalekFlay]

The board room discussions that take place before buying a disappointment factory like Double Fine must be interesting.

 

[LESS T_T]

Honesty:

 

[Dexter]

The board room discussions that take place before buying a disappointment factory like Double Fine must be interesting.

"We're launching a new console next year and we need content so we'll need to staff up, is there any nearly bankrupt studio out there desperately in need of funding we can get really cheap so we can say our console will Launch with over 60 Excl000sive games?"

"Obsidian Entertainment, InXile Entertainment and... is there any other studio ending with "Entertainment" out there? Double Fine Productions? I guess that'll have to do. We're still on track with Halo 6 and the new Forza though, yeah?"

 

[Infinitron]

Observation: All three studios whose CEOs cooperated to help found Fig have now been acquired by Microsoft.

 

[Mexi]

They pretty much slam dunked on all the dumbass indie gaymers. Dudes released a piece of shit and took the 2 million or whatever they raised and ran.

 

[Metro]

Perfect place for those shitbirds.

 

[McPlusle]

At least he's finally settled down with a company whose coffers he isn't doomed to completely drain.

 

[Rahdulan]

Have fun with those milestones, Microsoft. I'm sure he'll deliver on them.

 

[J_C]

Codex after MS acquired InXile: LOL, I wonder why did they buy a company which is headed by a snake oil salesman.
Codex after MS acquired Obsidan. LOL, I wonder why did they buy a company which hasn't delivered a good game for a decade?
Codex after MS acquired Double Fine: LOL, I wonder why did they buy a company which always disappoints?

Oh Codex, you never disappoint with your creativity.

 

[ScrotumBroth]

Hah, they've nabbed the Kickstarter pioneer. Wow, that whole revolution really ended in shame and failure.

 

[Garbage]

Double Fine means you pay twice. Good job on that extra paycheck, Timmy boy.

 

[Infinitron]

Can't publish when you're owned by a publisher: https://www.destructoid.com/tim-sch...down-but-it-ll-live-on-in-spirit-565977.phtml

Tim Schafer says Double Fine Presents may shut down, but it'll live on in spirit

Double Fine has had an important side hustle ever since 2014. Primarily a development studio, Double Fine started a publishing arm five years ago. The concept is mutually beneficial: Indie developers get their name attached to Double Fine's, a surefire way to cut through the thicket of indies all fighting for attention; Double Fine gets a cut of the revenues as the publisher.

It might not be around much longer, though. Microsoft's acquisition of Double Fine threatens to make the Double Fine Presents label redundant and sort of unnecessary. We talked with Double Fine founder Tim Schafer at PAX West, and he admitted that no one's really sure what will happen to the studio's publishing business.

Schafer said "How Double Fine Presents will evolve is kind of an unknown. It doesn't make sense to do exactly the kind of publishing stuff if we can't do it-- like if the platforms are limited. From a business sense, I don't know if it structurally makes sense to have a publisher within [another publisher]. It's a complicated issue."

However, that doesn't mean Double Fine can't move forward with the spirit of the program. "If you go back to why Double Fine Presents existed, a lot of it came about because there's so many games and it's really hard for any individual game now to get a lot of attention for itself," Schafer explained. "We've been through a lot of deals, seen how they happen, how platform-holders operate, how the press works -- all these different things that maybe a first-time indie dev doesn't know about. We thought we could help them with that and also kind of pick our favorite games and give them more exposure. Whether or not we're still hands-on publishing those games ourselves, we can still be fulfilling that mission of just helping indie devs even though we're a part of Microsoft."

Schafer continued "We can also still do things like Day of the Devs which is another part of Double Fine Presents that helps elevate 70 or 80 games, and we let people come meet those developers and play those games, and it's free to the public. It's a great way to approach that same mission, and we can still do that without officially putting our name on it and taking a share of the revenue. We don't have to do that anymore."

It's anyone's guess as to where Double Fine Presents goes from here. Maybe it makes more sense to give the program a viking funeral than to adapt it to something that's publishing-adjacent. Whatever the outcome, it's not going to stop Double Fine from giving quality indies the platform they deserve.

We'll have our full interview with Tim Schafer later this week.

 

[J_C]

Can't publish when you're owned by a publisher: https://www.destructoid.com/tim-sch...down-but-it-ll-live-on-in-spirit-565977.phtml

All the games they published from indies were meh, so nothing of value was lost.

 

[LESS T_T]

Can't publish when you're owned by a publisher: https://www.destructoid.com/tim-sch...down-but-it-ll-live-on-in-spirit-565977.phtml

Tim Schafer says Double Fine Presents may shut down, but it'll live on in spirit

https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news...ness_development_Greg_Rice_departs_studio.php

Double Fine VP of business development Greg Rice departs studio

Double Fine’s business development VP and longtime developer Greg Rice has announced he’s leaving the studio for an unannounced new position elsewhere in the game industry.

Rice’s departure comes shortly after the decades-old studio was acquired by Microsoft earlier this year, though he notes in a heartfelt Twitter thread that he’s comforted by future that newly forged relationship ensures for Double Fine.

“Here's something I never thought I'd say, yesterday was my last day at Double Fine. It's been a dream come true working with the world’s greatest human [Tim Schafer] and the crew of incredibly talented, caring, wonderful people he’s assembled at Double Fine for the last decade," tweeted Rice.

“I'm so proud of all the amazing things we’ve accomplished and really really sad to leave, but am comforted to be leaving them in a great spot with Psychonauts 2 looking amazing and the Microsoft sale ensuring many many more of the insanely creative games you've come to expect.”

While Rice voices his support for Double Fine’s life as a Microsoft subsidiary, the future of several of the studio’s dealings he watched over, like Day of the Devs and the publishing arm Double Fine Presents, were called into question shortly after the ink dried on the acquisition.

In September for instance, Double Fine founder Tim Schafter shared that the future of the latter program was up in the air after the acquisition and, at the time, the studio was still working to figure out the role it would play following its arrangement with Microsoft.

However, Rice doesn't note any specific reasons for his departure in his thread. Instead he shares memories from his time at the studio and mentions that details on his next adventure will emerge later on.

 

[Fedora Master]

 

[toro]

Rats leaving the ship.

 

[Wyatt_Derp]

Rats leaving the ship.

FINE. As long as the rats stay in 'Frisco. Double fine if they get a job doing something else for a living... maybe work as a software tech building websites for the DNC.

 

[Viata]

Honesty:

At least he has the balls to be honest here.

 

[Tiospo]

Oh, who cares!

 

[J_C]

Rats leaving the ship.

Yep, employees never leave companies, they work all their life in one place.

 

[Wyatt_Derp]

Rats leaving the ship.

Yep, employees never leave companies, they work all their life in one place.