Nowadays, anything can happen in the video game industry. One day, you can be working on a game, then get shut down the next day. In Double Fine’s case, they were lucky. Following news of XBOX’s reset, one of the big changes was the consolidation of its studios where some were either going to be sold or shut down. Others like Double Fine, got out of the situation differently, going back to being an independent developer. After the split, Double Fine took to the community for advice on what they should do next and have since announced Thank You Bus Driver as their next title. Studio Head Tim Schafer talked about the split, the current state of the video game industry, and more in an new interview.
Talking with BBC, Schafer talks about how he doesn’t understand how the current state of the video game industry works when it comes to the economics. According to Schafer, it used to be a cycle of up and downs and now he hasn’t seen an ‘up’ for a while.
“I don’t understand the economics of making games to be honest,” Schafer explained. “I often for years thought I understood them, because there are layoffs, which is bad, and then the people who make games realise ‘oh, we need people to make games’, the executives are like ‘oh, we fired everybody, we need some people to make this game’, they hire them back, and then they… you know.
“So I always assume ‘oh, there’ll be this cycle of ups and downs, and ups and downs’. But it’s been down for, like, four years, and I don’t know why. I really don’t, because people are playing games, and people are making money, so I don’t know why there’s a big loss of jobs.
“I just assume it’s, like, someone is being greedy somewhere. But I hope it is a cycle, and I hope it bounces back.”
Schafer also notes how this doesn’t just affect the big studios in the AAA space; it also affects the indie space.
“I think there’s a lot of life and and excitement and creativity in the games industry now, especially in the indie space,” he said. “I’m not one of those snobs who says only indie games are creative. I think a lot of AAA games do a lot of great creative work.
“It’s just that, it’s been a much more violent place to work in AAA, you know, much more stressful, and your work is often not as rewarded, because you will get laid off as soon as you finish your game. But in indie games, there’s no guarantee of being not – not laid off – but out of money after you ship your game. So, they both have their risks.”
When the situation surrounding Double Fine splitting from Microsoft arose, Schafer was initially unaware that there was a way to keep the studio open.
“At first the news is like… it takes you a while to realise you have the power to survive,” he explained. “You know, first it was like ‘well, I guess they’re going to shut us down’.
“And then I was like ‘wait a second, there are other options, you know. Do you want to die? No, we want to live. Double Fine’s always been very hard to kill.
“It’s always had this very strong will to live, I think, because it’s very unique in the industry, and it’s very important to have a place where creativity is king, and to walk that strange space we occupy within double-A, you know.
“Just being able to do little indie games like Thank You Bus Driver, and bigger games like Psychonauts 2, I think it’s a unique studio with a unique set of values that’s worth fighting for.
“So, yeah, that got [us] motivated to keep it alive, and that really helped focus all of our efforts and motivate the team, for sure.”
