Back when Minecraft creator Notch tweeted that he’d fund a sequel to Psychonauts, the gaming Internet freaked out, seeing as how Psychonauts is one of the best video games ever made, but unfortunately didn’t make enough money to convince publishers to fund a sequel. After Notch and Tim Schafer tweeted a bit about the situation, they went quiet for the most part, and the news got overshadowed by Tim Schafer’ development studio, Double Fine, raising almost two million dollars on Kickstarter for the development of an adventure game. Notch spoke up on his blog about the Psychonauts sequel, giving everyone a status update, and some insight into what caused him to make that initial tweet offering to fund the game.
First off, Notch said he made the initial offer semi-jokingly, but never fear, the semi-joke turned into actual talks regarding funding the game’s development. Notch says Tim Schafer and he haven’t talked much since the initial tweet offer, especially because Double Fine’s Kickstarter project had so much success so quickly, so Schafer has been occupied. Notch also mentions that the budget for doing a Psychonauts sequel is three times higher than what he initially imagined, but other parties have also expressed interest in helping fund the production of the sequel.
Notch also mentions that he wouldn’t be investing in the game as a charity, as he feels the game would be profitable this time around, and he also wouldn’t want any creative input on the game, allowing Tim Schafer’s mad genius to run free and unhindered. He says that he has no idea if Psychonauts 2 will actually happen, nor has any idea if he’ll be funding it. He does state, however, that if the numbers work out, and if Double FIne still wants to do a sequel, and if they don’t decide to go the obviously successful Kickstarter route like they did for their adventure game, Notch would indeed be interested in investing in a Psychonauts sequel.
Notch also mentions that he is scared of people feeling let down if the sequel doesn’t pan out, and wishes the Internet would stop hyping it so much because of that. Interestingly, he doesn’t say he’s afraid of making the investment because he might lose a lot of money.
So, there we have it. Notch confirms that he is indeed serious about funding a Psychonauts sequel, but a lot of dominos have to fall into place in order for it to come to fruition. Hopefully those dominos know what’s good for them.
(via Notch)
- Notch offers to fund Psychonauts 2 after Tim Schafer says no one wanted to
- Mojang to create game in 60 hours for charity
- Double Fine raised a bunch of money for a new game through Kickstarter
