Given Double Fine Productions’ track record, it’s no surprise that there’s never any shortage of excitement and curiosity around whatever it is the studio will do next, and given how successful the excellent Psychonauts 2 has been, there are many who have wondered whether the developer will instantly jump into making another sequel for the platforming franchise.
After all, a recent Microsoft tease seemed to be suggesting something along those lines (or so many people though). However, according to Double Fine Productions boss Tim Schafer, a Psychonauts 3 is not in development. Speaking in a recent interview with YouTube channel Cressup, referring to the aforementioned tease, Schafer said that he hadn’t actually seen it, and said that a Psychonauts sequel isn’t currently in the works.
“I didn’t see that,” he said (spotted by PCGamesN). “I’m not working on Psychonauts 3.”
So what is Double Fine working on then? Responding to a question about whether Double Fine will stick with developing larger and more complex projects or return to smaller games, Schafer said that’s not something the studio puts as much consideration on as it does on whether or not a project would align with its company values. Currently, Schafer says, Double Fine is working on “smaller” games, which he says are “new” and, of course “unannounced”.
“We’ve had big games that were admittedly very complex and hard to make, but didn’t have any of the acrimony,” Schafer said. “Psychonauts 1 had a real tough development, but everyone liked each other the whole time. It’s not about big games vs small games, it’s about our company’s values, and whether we are sticking to them. It causes [us] to look at what our values are, and actually write them down and share them with the team. So yeah, we’ll make big games again. We’re not right now, right now we’re making, you know, smaller games. Secret stuff.”
“We’re doing new, unannounced stuff,” he added.
Last year, Double Fine Productions confirmed that it had multiple new projects in the works across a number of different internal teams.