Tim Schafer ‘scared for publishers’

Tim Schafer and Ron Gilber has issued a challenge to publishers to recognize and embrace the revolutionary change brought on by the relationships between small developers and fans.

Their studio, Double Fine, has become an icon for small developersa after successfully avoiding closure by changing business tactics and turning to fans to finance a new adventure game on crowdfunding site Kickstarter.

The campaign raised over three million dollars.

The key to this, says Double Fine, is an open relationship with fans.

But Shafer has not been convinced that publishers are taking this "revolution" seriously.

"I’m a little scared, well, for them, because I see a lot of resistance to it," he told Game Front.

"‘Well, that’s someone else’s business — we don’t want to be in a race to zero,’ or something like that, I think they’re going to see a lot of migration from developers and fans to more open environments like that, for sure.”

Adventure game legend and Schafer’s partner in crime, Ron Gilbert, was more direct, emphasizing the need for publishers to change their attitude towards their fans and accept the lower price points common to the new era of game development.

"I think they are going have to because the world is changing and small developers are getting these personal relationships with their fans and people that play the games, and I think the really big publishers need to embrace that or they’re really gonna miss this whole kind of revolution that’s happening right now,” said Gilbert.