Tim Schafer hates "arthouse" label

By Tom Bramwell Published 1 September, 2010

"We were trying to sell out!"

Tim Schafer has said he hates being thought of as an arthouse developer.

"I think it's the worst title ever," he told gamesTM. "I think people want that to be the story - it's a good story to tell - but Psychonauts, if you really look at it, is a very commercial game, and Brütal Legend is too."

Platform adventure Psychonauts, released in 2005 for PC and consoles, was celebrated by critics for its intelligence and wit, but ultimately sold poorly.

Double Fine's Brutal Legend, eventually published by Electronic Arts after Activision dumped it (something Schafer hasn't been shy about commenting on), also suffered commercially despite its tie-in with actor Jack Black and strong reviews.

One day, Schafer joked with gamesTM, Double Fine will make a huge hit and people will turn the label against them.

"They'll say, 'Double Fine sold out!' And we'll say, 'We were trying to sell out with every game we made since the first one!'"

At the moment the studio is working on two downloadable games for THQ. The first, Costume Quest (see video below), is due out this autumn for PS3 and Xbox 360.

The developer also has two other projects in development. Schafer told the Develop Conference in Brighton in July that some of the studio's current projects were downloadable but others were retail.

Trick or treat?

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (5) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • MrTeatime #1 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 09:59:18 03-01-2012

  • BillPoon #2 1 year ago

    Really enjoyed Brutal Legend, despite a couple of annoyances. Looking forward to Costume Quest as well, anything that gives the industry breadth is good in my book.

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #3 1 year ago

    I'm really enjoying Brutal Legend at the moment, and I just generally love Schafer and everything he does, so all in all I hope DF continue to make great games, and that one day they'll have a sure-fire hit on their hands.

  • lucky_jim #4 1 year ago

    If Psychonauts and Brutal Legend are selling out, I'm buying in. I wish everyone "sold out" with games like that.

  • 1471 #5 1 year ago

    Never heard of anyone calling them "arthouse". I love Psychonauts but it's blantantly wants to sell well and if it did it would be on Nicklodeon (or whatever they have now) by now. They'd be talking about a movie tie-in and Happy Meal toys for the sequel. Do they do Happy Meals anymore? They don't do English muffins with jam. Bastards.