Psychonauts 2 to be published by Starbreeze

Starbreeze has signed a publishing deal with Double Fine for Psychonauts 2, the company announced this morning. Starbreeze will be investing $8m to bring the game to PC and console via digital distribution.

Psychonauts 2 was successfully funded through crowd-funding last year on Fig, and Starbreeze says it will be able to recoup 100 per cent of its investment, including marketing costs, with an initial revenue share of 85 per cent after distribution and platform fees and Fig crowd-funding revenue share.

Starbreeze’s share of the revenue will then become 60 per cent after the investment is recouped. Meanwhile, Double Fine will retain 100 per cent of the intellectual property rights relating to Psychonauts 2.

Starbreeze’s CEO Bo Andersson-Klint commented: Many of us gamers who’ve grown up during 70’s and 80’s have at some point come across the great games from Double Fine and Tim Schafer. Games like Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, and Brtal Legend are all in the list of personal all time favorites for many of us.

"We’re very proud to be able to add this prominent collaboration to our Publishing business. Starbreeze is looking forward to support Double Fine in bringing the new and exciting game Psychonauts 2 to young and old gamers world wide."

Double Fine president and CEO Tim Schafer added: "Starbreeze is the perfect partner for Double Fine and our backers on Psychonauts 2. Their expertise in not just developing and publishing games, but supporting them after launch will be a great benefit for players of the game."

Double Fine brought Psychonauts 2 to crowd-funding platform Fig in January 2016, where it raised over $3.8m, raising 116 per cent of its original $3.3m goal. $1.95m of that figure was raised through traditional rewards-based pledges, while $1.87m was raised through investment. The title only has a vague release date of 2018 so far, but Fig backers should expect to see the game in Q3 2018.