Double Fine’s hilarious — in a psychotic kind of way — 2006 platformer, Psychonauts, never received the mainstream sales and recognition it deserved. But now, developer Double Fine has regained the opportunity to do what they please with the game. A tweet from team member Anna Kipnis exclaimed: “Omg Double Fine is now the sole publisher of Psychonauts!! If you buy it now (on Steam, for instance), the proceeds go to us!” As it turns out, that last sentence isn’t entirely accurate; still, the rights to publish have indeed reverted back to Double Fine.
While the IP rights always belonged to the developer, the ability to put the game out there was in someone else’s hands. Again, though, contrary to Kipnis’ tweet, the developer is not in a position to start making money off of the title right this second. According to Double Fine leader Tim Shafer, there’s still some red tape standing preventing that from immediately occurring. “It’s true the publishing rights have reverted to Double Fine, but there are some more deals that need to be worked out and contracts that need signing before that actually means anything, financially. After that’s all squared away, we will have some fun stuff to announce! (And no, it’s not Psychonauts 2.)” We tried to use our psychic powers to get the details out of Shafer’s head, but we couldn’t handle the frightening Sesame Street imagery we encountered, once inside his noggin.
So, there’s actually nothing happening in regards to this development; but there will be soon. That — coupled with the confirmation that we’re not getting a sequel anytime soon — may be disheartening for fans, but at least we now know that the under-appreciated game’s creator is doing something with it.
[Sources: Twitter and Gamasutra]
[Image via Gamer Node.]
