Microsoft acquires Psychonauts developer Double Fine - Sensationalist Headlines

https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/9/18658920/microsoft-acquires-double-fine-psychonauts-e3-2019 Looks like there is someone who can hold Tim accountable now.

Honestly this is the only possible "Microsoft acquires ____" headline that would actually make me happy. If there's any indie studio that needs a publisher, it's Double Fine.

https://twitter.com/DoubleFine/status/1137823255232802816

I hope Microsoft doesn't plan to be his shield.

Gotta appreciate his honesty

I think there's a lot of irony in Microsoft buying them - psychonauts 1 was intended to be an OXBOX exclusive, but well. "Expensive and late" was how I recall the dismissal went

I will never forget that incident. What a prick.

I hope this doesn't turn into another talent drain like Rareware.

Microsoft is a different company than they were when they bought them. Trust Phil Spencer.

Better than Epic.

I know people have their issues with Schafer, but he never fails to make me laugh.

There was only one show where Tim Schafer really fucked up, but yeah, he's still a funny person most of the time.

Can't wait for Spacebase DF-9 to finally be finished.

Microsoft: "OK Tim, we're going to need you to finish this on ti-" Tim: "Wait, what?"

Remember the 3.3 Million

Don't forget.... https://i.imgur.com/AGe0DiZ.jpg

Brutal Legend was cool though

The point is that Tim is piss poor at managing stuff.

and trenched

I hope someone tweets Microsoft that video of Tim flushing money. Or were those fake bills and I'm just like 3 years behind the curve?

so people wasted money on the kickstarter thing because now he gets money from microsoft now?

While I wouldn’t say people should “trust” Phil spencer, there’s a pretty clear difference between him and a guy like Don Mattrick, who couldn’t give a shit about what the customer thinks if it would cost Microsoft a couple of cents over the alternative.

I have the same dark fantasy about Microsoft acquiring Cloud Imperium Games.

What makes you think that Chris Roberts being published by Microsoft would work any better than last time? Giving Cloud Imperium to anyone is the fastest way to kill Star Citizen in the crib, and have nothing ever come of it. And of all publishers, Microsoft would just be a cruel irony, considering that the last time Chris Roberts was published by Microsoft, they dissolved his entire studio and canceled his Freelancer sequel - which was what birthed Star Citizen in the first place.

In case my avatar wasn't a giveaway, Freelancer is my favorite game of all time, so if it worked at least as well as last time, I'd be the happiest space sim player in the world. If you asked me it worked out great last time!

It's mine, too. Still play it on occasion, even to this day. Which is why I reiterate that giving Star Citizen to Microsoft is the worst thing that could ever happen to it. Star Citizen is an absolute runaway train when it comes to budget. Whether or not it will ever be fully finished and see a 1.0 release is a gamble. But if Microsoft were to acquire it, you can bet your britches that Microsoft would piss themselves in fear at the thought of it failing and losing all that budget - they'd either cancel it straight-up and put the team to work on a much smaller project, or neuter the project so severely that it'd be a tiny shadow of what it would otherwise be. Even if Star Citizen releasing to meet Chris Robert's vision is a 90% fail rate, Microsoft acquiring them makes that a 100% fail rate.

All of this has happened before with Freelancer. Chris was completely out of control, way over budget, no release date in sight, perpetual delays, promising the world 3 times over, etc. Freelancer probably would never have come out if Microsoft didn't step in. Here's what really happened: Microsoft steps in -> Chris rage quits the industry because his ~ V I S I O N ~ is getting compromised -> DA scrambles to put together a real game based on what they had (which was still a hell of a lot) -> you get the best open world space sim of all time! You're also missing a lot of context between the Microsoft of FL's time, and the Microsoft of today. The early 2000s Microsoft was the time when Microsoft was pulling out of PC gaming. As for why Lonestar got cancelled, it probably just didn't seem like a compelling Xbox game, because that's what it would have been. Microsoft had dropped PC to focus on Xbox. The Microsoft of today is going through a second renaissance of supporting PC games. Every first party Xbox game is now coming to PC. Halo is finally coming to PC proper and it's coming to Steam. Microsoft just pulled a brand new Flight Simulator out of their asses. I could have never predicted that happening, but here we are, Microsoft reviving one of their most niche and expensive franchises designed for PC, and that trailer they showed didn't look cheap. So no, I don't think a hypothetical buyout of CIG by Microsoft would result in them just cancelling the game. What happens in my dream scenario is that all they do is they give Chris a stern talking to tell him to hurry it up and put out a game already. If that means he rage quits the industry again, eh, he's done it before and things went just fine last time. Let him go make Hollywood movies again if we wants. If that results in a "release" Star Citizen being only 50% of what was promised, so be it. Honestly all I want out of Star Citizen is 50% of what Chris Roberts is promising. Probably even less, considering how out of control it got. Obviously, I'm in the minority when it comes to the Star Citizen fanbase. Obviously, none of this will ever happen. Obviously, the SC fanbase would be absolutely livid. There's a reason I call this my dark fantasy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR9yKz2C3dY