After a successful crowdfunding campaign, years of development, and multiple delays, Double Fine’s Psychonauts 2 is finally slated for release this year.
Double Fine boss Tim Schafer recently gave an update on the project, stressing that the game is indeed on track to launch in 2021. All the levels are in the game and no more features are being added, so the team is now working on getting the game polished and ready to release.
Schafer went on to say that Double Fine is refusing to crunch on Psychonauts 2 as it enters its final stage of development. The period of crunch on the first Psychonauts was brutal, Schafer said, and with that in mind, the studio is unwilling to do that again.
Reflecting on the crunch for 2005’s Psychonauts, Schafer said, “You’re just so focused on making the game good, and getting it done, and then you look up and it’s a sea of dead bodies all around you. And you’re like, ‘What have I done?'”
For Psychonauts 2, Schafer said it is very tempting right now to crunch on the game to get it out the door, but he won’t do that. “If you can’t move the money, and you can’t move the schedule, and you can’t move the quality of the game, you can just move the quality of everyone’s life down a lot by making them come in and work at a lot,” Schafer said.
Microsoft acquired Double Fine during Psychonauts 2’s development. Despite that, the game continue will still release on all previously announced platforms, including ones that rival Microsoft’s. People on Xbox and PC, however, are getting special treatment because they can get the game at no extra cost through Game Pass.
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