Markus “Notch” Persson explains why he decided not to fund Psychonauts 2
Even though it may not seem that long ago, it’s been almost a year since Notch made the following tweet to Tim Schafer:
@timoflegend Let’s make Psychonauts 2 happen.
— Markus Persson (@notch) February 7, 2012
Notch later followed up with a post on his blog saying:
Since then, Notch and Schafer have obviously done a good amount of talking and the end result is that Notch has realized that — numbers-wise — he and Schafer are miles apart. According to a post Notch made on Reddit last Friday in this thread, he was imagining a cost somewhere in the range of about two million dollars whereas what is needed to make Psychonauts 2 is almost ten times that amount.
While it may be disheartening to fans, it’s easy to understand why Notch would decide not to fund Psychonauts 2. Despite any arguments people may make about him having enough money to cover something like that, it’s hard to throw ten times more money into an investment than you originally planned unless you’re really certain it’s going to pay off. Given the initial sales of the original Psychonauts game, an investment that size does seem like a pretty big risk.
There is good news!
While it may be a while yet before it happens, Double Fine has made a statement saying the company is “excited about the prospect of making a sequel to Psychonauts.” At present, they’re busy working on the Double Fine Adventure, but even Schafer, who once said he’d accepted that Psychonauts 2 would never be made, now feels that the game has a chance to be made.
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