In early December 2015, Double Fine Productions announced that Psychonauts 2 will hit the crowdfunding website Fig. Now, the project has achieved its goal of raising $3.3 million.
Developer Double Fine Productions launched Psychonauts in 2005 for Microsoft Windows, Xbox and Sony PlayStation 2 (PS2). The game was well-received and Double Fine Productions is ready to work on a sequel.
The original Psychonauts followed the story Razputin, a young psychic boy, in his pursuit to connect to the Psychonauts, an exclusive set of international psychic secret agents. The story begins with Raz running away from the circus and then breaking into a top-secret training facility called Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp.
The tale, however, ends on a cliffhanger with the promise of more to come. After a decade's wait Double Fine Production confirmed that it will release Psychonauts, which will continue Raz's story.
Double Fine Productions notes on Fig that Raz understands his dreams in Psychonauts 2 and then visits the Psychonauts HQ. Raz then finds that the Psychonauts need him more than he needs them.
"Psychonauts 2 will feature a new hub world inside Psychonauts HQ. You'll access new mental worlds as Raz peeks inside the minds of a host of new characters who need his help to combat their inner demons and unravel their deep-seated emotional issues. Raz will hone his secret agent PSI-abilities-and learn new ones too-using them to solve mysteries and uncover evil plots," says Double Fine Productions on Fig.
Check out the Psychonauts 2 announce teaser.
In early December 2015, Double Fine Productions took on to Fig and pledged $3.3 million. With five days remaining, the game developer has achieved the goal.
However, the $3.3 million will not be enough to develop the sequel of Psychonauts and Double Fine Productions will contribute the balance with the help of an unnamed partner.
This is not the first time that Double Fine Productions has raised money via crowdfunding websites. The game developer raised the same amount on Kickstarter for adventure game Broken Age.
Tim Schafer, the founder and creative director of Double Fine Productions, says the development team chose Fig because unlike Kickstarter, it allows backers to serve as investors and earn a share of profits that the game makes. Schafer adds that with the reward-based crowdfunding, the game developers wanted to show backers that they are doing something for the game.
"Now that we have investors, we're going to be transparent about talking about our business plan, too. I think people are going to want to know how we plan to make money from this game. Before they weren't interested in that; they wanted the game to be successful, but they weren't asking questions about profitability, and now they will be," says Schafer.
The original Psychonauts was not a big hit in the gaming industry. Double Fine Productions ended up with sales of less than half a million in the first five years. However, in the following five years the game sold more than 1.2 million copies. The game developer will have more expectations with Psychonauts 2, which is estimated to be released fall 2018.
Check out this short thank you message posted by Schafer on YouTube.
