News Psychonauts 2 - releasing August 25. 2021

[prudis]

Psychonauts 2 will still be coming to ALL promised platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, and of course - Xbox

Razputin Aquato, trained acrobat and powerful young psychic, has realized his life long dream of joining the international psychic espionage organization known as the Psychonauts! But these psychic super spies are in trouble. Their leader hasn't been the same since he was kidnapped, and what's worse, there's a mole hiding in headquarters. Raz must use his powers to stop the mole before they execute their secret plan--to bring the murderous psychic villain, Maligula, back from the dead!

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Here is a message from Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty on the acquisition:

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, Brutal 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.

Double Fine Productions Joins Xbox Game Studios - Xbox Wire

 

[Deleted member 113]

After Obsidian, and a few others, now it's Double Fine.
Microsoft now own an insane amount of talent.

I can't help but feel a bit sad to see yet another AA studio I really like being bought out.
There are not many similar studios left around, and here we have one less independent studio, bought by a corporation like Microsoft. It reminds me of what Disney has been making in terms of cinema, where they now own pretty much all the big IPs, and several studio catalogues (and do nothing with it, outside of making Marvel and Star Wars movies).

I saw the same thing happening a couple of decades ago, when EA bought teams like Origin, or Bullfrog, and we all know the results.
No matter how much Tim says things won't change, they obviously will.

Just look at what happened to Twisted Pixel Games after Microsoft bought them.

Hopefully, Microsoft will understand what is special about Obsidian's and Double Fine's output, and the studios will be fine.

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Anyway, back to Psychonauts 2.
It looks... like Psychonauts? Yeah, it looks surprisingly like a very (non-evolutive) sequel to the first game. It looks a bit better, but outside of it, it pretty much looks like the same game.
I enjoyed the first game, so this isn't bad news for me, but I'm actually surprised with how close it looks to the original game. It certainly doesn't look like a sequel that is releasing 14 years later than the previous game.

 

[RionaaM]

On the one hand, this could be a good way to keep the company afloat. If they don't go Xbox or Win Store exclusive, then I guess there's nothing bad about this deal.

On the other, I backed Psychonauts 2 several years ago and it isn't even out, so now I feel I gave them money for nothing. Sure, you could say they used that money to develop the game during the last few years, but it still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. They took crowdfunders' money and then got bought by one of the biggest companies ever before releasing the game they asked that money for. Yeah, I kinda feel I've been made a fool of.

 

[Deleted member 113]

On the other, I backed Psychonauts 2 several years ago and it isn't even out, so now I feel I gave them money for nothing. Sure, you could say they used that money to develop the game during the last few years, but it still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. They took crowdfunders' money and then got bought by one of the biggest companies ever before releasing the game they asked that money for. Yeah, I kinda feel I've been made a fool of.

Well, sadly a publisher joining a crowdfunded game is pretty much the norm.
The huge majority of games I backed on crowdfunding touted the campaign as a way of making the game independently, but the truth is sooner or later a publisher joined.

I'm not really upset about it, but I dialled down a lot on the games I crowdfund, because time and time again, I had bad experiences.
I can count with the fingers in my hands the number of times a developer was genuinely awesome, in terms of the both the final result, and the way they handled their backers. This, on 100+ campaigns.

Oh well, at least the publisher isn't 505 Games...
Yeah, I already "loved" them as a publisher, but after what they pulled since joining the Bloodstained campaign, they are on par with Epic on my appreciation charts. Probably even lower than Epic.

 

[SRossi]

Yeah. Ms and Tim can assure us that nothing will change but we all know the truth. Double fine is no more. And the "rational" posters can come and explain to us that it's for the best, that doublefine was always on the edge and had to do crowdfunding to survive and with ms everything will be better - they have funding now! And anyway, ms are the good guys now.
But as fast, or slow, ms changed to the good guys now, as fast they can (and will) change back. Thats just how these big companies work. And we all know that these bought up companies will loose not only their independence but also what made them unique. It will happen to inxile and also to doublefine. That's just the way it is.

 

[Phoenix RISING]

As much as people loved Psychonauts, I couldn't get into it, and could not finish it.

 

[Taborcarn]

I beat Psychonauts for the first time last month and really enjoyed it. I mostly did it to finally get it out of my backlog but now I'm glad that I'm all prepared for the sequel. And the steam version of the game still looks and plays surprisingly good, I had it running 1440p (I think it was capped at 60fps?) and it felt great.

 

[Firewithin]

Tim sold out!

but i forgive him because hes still Tim Schafer. Met him at PSX a few years ago when they had the VR game coming out and was super nice.

 

[SRossi]

Tim sold out!

but i forgive him because hes still Tim Schafer. Met him at PSX a few years ago when they had the VR game coming out and was super nice.

its not about him forgiving or not. i think i would do the same if i would have been in his position. we all knew the company struggled. it's just sad that doublefine is no more. they did a great job most of the time.

 

[prudis]

Greetings Psychobackers!

The aroma of deep-fried turkey, corn casserole and pecan pie is in the air, threatening to lure us all from our desks for a few days of relaxation, family and feasting. But before we succumb, falling onto our couches into the sweet, sweet dreams of a food coma, we want to share with you a brief update on the greatest game of all time, Psychonauts 2.

We are deep, deep into development now, and progress is going extremely well! It’s also about to speed up and get a lot more RAD as the team from our recently released rogue-like all roll onto the project to lend us their expertise. That means nearly everyone at the studio is now working together on the biggest development team we’ve here since the launch of Brutal Legend in 2009!

We’re at a stage in the project now where we have a whole ton of things we want to show you, are eager and excited to show you even, but to do so involves dancing around lots of spoilers and is proving a little complicated. While we figure out this complex choreography we’ve put together an update about our new team members and the skills they’ll be bringing with them, rather than specific elements of the game. Those with keen eyes will still spot quite a few little snippets of excitement, including a room of people dressed in perfectly normal attire.

We’ll catch up with you again soon, until then we wish you all very Happy Holidays!

 

[prudis]

delayed to 2021

Psychonauts 2 releases in 2021 on Xbox Game Pass, Windows PC, Mac, Linux, and PS4. Best of all, it’ll be Optimized for Xbox Series X!

Psychonauts 2 is a mind-bending trip through the strange worlds hiding inside our brains. Freshly-minted special agent/acrobat extraordinaire Razputin “Raz” Aquato returns to unpack emotional baggage and expand mental horizons. Along the way he’ll help new friends (like this magical mote of light voiced by Jack Black) and unravel dark mysteries about the Psychonauts and his own family.

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[prudis]

 

[prudis]

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Psychonauts 2 is available August 25. Play it day one with Xbox Game Pass.

 

[prudis]

 

[Panda Pedinte]

It's nice seeing this game so near of releasing!

 

[lashman]

It's nice seeing this game so near of releasing!

yup ... especially for people who backed it

 

[prudis]

Highlights from Peter McConnell's 3-hour score to Psychonauts 2! Learn more about his process in this interview with SPIN: spin.com/2021/08/psychonauts-2-musical-tour