In the wake of Psychonauts 2's acclaimed launch last year, Double Fine founder Tim Schafer has opened up about the future of the studio. He says it will focus on creating original games instead of working on established series, dismissing the idea it could revive a canceled Warcraft adventure game.
After accepting the Andrew Yoon Legend Award at this year's New York Game Awards, the game designer told IGN: “[Double Fine’s] first real big follow-up to a big story was Psychonauts 2."
"I think it leads me to want to do new, original stuff for the next phase," he added. "Coming up with new ideas is really where my head is at right now."
He went on to suggest that no IPs or franchises under Microsoft, Double Fine’s parent company, appeal to him. While it had been suggested that Microsoft’s recent proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard could allow Double Fine to pick up the cult classic Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans - a canceled point-and-click adventure game that was briefly in development before World of Warcraft was on the scene - Shafer doubled down on his commitment to originality.
“Brad Muir was suggesting that we take on Warcraft Adventures, you know the Full Throttle-era adventure game that [Blizzard] made, but no, we like to make up our own stuff at Double Fine, so they will not be handing us any IPs," he said.
Elsewhere in the interview, Schafer shot down the possibility of bringing Double Fine’s work to the big screen, saying he isn’t interested in seeing any of his video games adapted into TV shows or movies.
"We often get approached by people saying, 'Hey, can we turn this into a movie?' but, you know It’s usually just a distraction," Schafer said.
"I think games are what I really care about and what I like to make and what I think are interesting. It comes up every once and a while, but it’s never turned into anything. I’ve had a lot of free lunches out of Hollywood."
Analysis: a studio that could go anywhere
Double Fine has always been a studio that’s valued fresh ideas over tired repeats. The original Psychonauts, Brütal Legend, Costume Quest, and Stacking demonstrated the studio’s ambition for original ideas in their early years, and while there have been a few sequels here and there (Costume Quest 2 and Psychonauts 2) the studio’s output has kept to that practice.
Trying to anticipate what its next original title will work look like is near impossible, however, as Double Fine constantly flits between genres and styles. One moment it's making the narrative-focused point-and-click adventure Broken Age, and the next it's moved on to fantasy turn-based tactics strategy title Massive Chalice. While that creative freedom doesn’t always go to plan, with city-builder Spacebase DF-9 still sitting as one of the worst-reviewed games on steam, it does make for genuinely exciting releases that, like Psychonauts 2, have the possibility of dominating their genres.
On a sadder note, Schafer’s comments to IGN confirm the possibility of his creations making it to the big screen are all but nil. Last year, Warcraft director Duncan Jones revealed he’d written a script for classic LucasArts adventure game Full Throttle, which Schafer liked but wasn't convinced by.
“You could tell he really played the game and knows what it's all about,” he told IGN. “It would be fun to work with Duncan but, you know, L.A. and Hollywood, they are just a big whirlpool of lunches."
