Notch can match Schafer's $13m Psychonauts 2 budget valuation

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 15 February, 2012

"I can do that."

Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson is able to match Tim Schafer's $13 million Psychonauts 2 development budget valuation.

"I can do that," he told the Double Fine boss.

"I was like, 'I don't think you can make [it] for a million dollars'," Schafer told Kotaku.

"The original game was, I think, $13 million, I think you have to match the original game.

"As soon as I mentioned the amount of money he said, 'Yeah, I can do that.'"

It's unclear whether Notch is willing to invest the $13 million from his own bulging bank account or contribute a certain amount before helping raise investment from elsewhere.

Notch's millions were made off the back of the phenomenal success of sandbox creation game Minecraft.

At the time of publication, over 22 million people had registered to play and just shy of five million people bought the game.

Last week Notch shocked the gaming world and Schafer himself when he said on his Twitter page that he was willing to personally fund a sequel to Double Fine's cult classic Psychonauts.

Double Fine head Tim Schafer has continually stated he would like to develop a second Psychonauts game, but has been unable to secure publisher-funding to back the project.

"Let's make Psychonauts 2 happen," Notch tweeted to Schafer.

"Also, I'm serious."

Psychonauts was first released in 2005 to positive reviews but disappointing sales. Double Fine recovered the rights to the game's publishing proceeds last year. Since then, the digital PC version has been seen a substantial update via Steam, and a new Mac version has been launched.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (48) Latest comment 3 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Goonboy #1 3 months ago

    oh my word. yes please.

  • ShiroBen #2 3 months ago

    *struggles not to make a high-pitched 'eeeeeee' noise; fails*

  • darm #3 3 months ago

    Nice.
    I wonder, however, will the sequel sell as good as it deserves?
    I bought the original when it was still new and was really disappointed that not much people did that.

  • Eraysor #4 3 months ago

    Advertise it in Minecraft and it'd sell a bajillion copies.

  • Gearskin #5 3 months ago

    Spare change to the man, right?
    Although surely he could throw $13 million at something else? Something... truly useful?
    Edited by Gearskin at 15/02/12 @ 10:12

  • mkreku #6 3 months ago

    His name is Markus, not Makus. Otherwise, excellent news!!

  • X201 #7 3 months ago

    @darm

    The bad sales were squarely down to Majesco's bad handling of it.

    They blew the advertising budget on one big competition, and were slow to get the game to Europe. (I had to buy mine direct from Double Fine).

  • paulf #8 3 months ago

    I wonder if they could get 13 million in crowdfunding?

  • Eraser #9 3 months ago

    If I want to play the original Psychonauts, what would be my best option to play it? I have a Windows 7 PC, XBox 360 and a Wii. Is it playable on XBox 360?

  • spekkeh #10 3 months ago

    But does he think it's an investment that will make him a profit, or is he doing it to become more popular and thereby sell more of his own games?

    Or does he just not know what the hell to do with all his new money, and doesn't mind losing a couple of million for just one game?

    It's such a weird direction this industry suddenly seems to be going in. Of course publishers are perhaps a bit conservative and stifle innovation, but surely they have a better idea of what sells than an individual consumer? I feel like this grassroots approach will come crashing down quickly when people lose their own invested money.

  • stee1gargoyle #11 3 months ago

    As interesting as crowd-funded games are, I don't think it's a sustainable model either - but we'll have to wait and see.

  • marmaduke #12 3 months ago

    @Eraser - you can get it on Steam for £5.99. No idea if it's on the Xbox 360 backwards compatibility list, plus you'd have to find a copy.

  • Sausagechaos #13 3 months ago

    @Eraser. You can play it on the 360, the xbox original has an update so it's compatible.

  • roz123 #14 3 months ago

    I would rather they make a sequal to one of Schafers good games like Grim Fandango or Full Throttle. Psychonauts is just a mediocre platform game with a lot of polish.

  • 03tomsau #15 3 months ago

    @Eraser @marmaduke
    It can actually be bought on the xbox live market place

  • Toothball #16 3 months ago

    @Eraser

    It's apparently playable on Xbox 360 although not without a few issues from what I gather. It's up for download so you don't need to hunt for a disc if you don't have one.

    The PC version seems pretty solid and shows up in Steam sales often enough, although it was on sale a week or so back so probably not for a while now. Perhaps the only down side is that the game assumes you're playing on Xbox, so all the on screen buttons the original Xbox ones. Not really that hard to deal with though.

  • O2L #17 3 months ago

    I dont like minecraft, not because I dont think its a good game, its just not one id play. But its great to see some developers willing to help each other out
    Edited by O2L at 15/02/12 @ 21:36

  • miiiguel #18 3 months ago

    Spare change to the man, right?
    Although surely he could throw $13 million at something else? Something... truly useful?


    What a strange comment, it's obvious the man wants to spend the money on something he really likes, like someone who drives fancy cars would spend in developing in one, be part of it.
    Not sure what "useful" means as well, like "charity" ? This project probably is going to more than a couple of jobs, and tbh, even I, a rather left-winged guy, am getting tired of this kinda bs.

    Seriously, what's "trully useful", who decides what's "trully useful", must we wake up Stalin and ask him ?
    I can understand it's not making a video game, not mention that making video games used to be a profession like any other, a job where ppl made a product and then sell it, but nowdays it's not, it seems we must spend our money in shit "trully useful". Close EG. Better yet, nationalize EG, for the people. Let's make these people do shit "trully useful".
    Edited by miiiguel at 15/02/12 @ 10:43

  • arcam #19 3 months ago

    @spekkeh

    Of course publishers are perhaps a bit conservative and stifle innovation, but surely they have a better idea of what sells than an individual consumer?

    They probably do, but I genuinely think in cases like this and the Kickstarter thing, people aren't really so worried about how many copies it sells or how much money it will make, they just want an awesome game to get made. I have no doubt Notch is aware this could lose him money, but he wants to do it anyway.

    It's what makes the internet great, the spirit of "well, if the big companies don't want to do it, we'll just do it ourselves".
    Edited by arcam at 15/02/12 @ 10:43

  • ZuluHero #20 3 months ago

    I love news like this. As gamers i'm sure we would love to be able to splash out and pay for development for a sequel to our favourite game, its just most of us lack the moolah to do it.

    Just goes to show that Notch is a gamer like us, and with everything going on in the industry at the moment, esp. with how corporate and cold its become, its nice to have someone like that in it.

  • chiptoon #21 3 months ago

    This is all kinds of beautiful

  • Enaksan #22 3 months ago

    I've never played the original, though obviously a lot of people have very good things to say about it. I do admire his balls out 'if noone else is going then help then fuck it I will' approach, and can only hope that if this pans out he gets on the phone to Yu Suzuki about a long lost Dreamcast game.....
    Edited by Enaksan at 15/02/12 @ 11:00

  • rogermellie #23 3 months ago

    @Eraser

    It's also available DRM free.

    http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/psychonauts

  • roquey Verified Lead Quality Assurance Tester and Compliance Specialist, Universally Speaking #24 3 months ago

    @miiiguel Maybe the guy that made the comment could spend his time doing something 'truly useful' ?

  • Smudge1983 #25 3 months ago

    I dont own a Pc so Steam isnt avilable for me but id love to see and reworked HD Xbla and Psn version before the 2nd comes out. Did any play the latest Alice game? There was a quality reference to Psychonaughts in that.

  • JamieR #26 3 months ago

    why dont he just buy out the developer and the brand?

  • pigsy2400 #27 3 months ago

    Psychonauts was a good game but this industry is built on economics, the original however critically acclaimed it was, simply bombed. Rose Tinted Specs, . .

  • munki83 #28 3 months ago

    If he has $13mil to potentially throw at a game, a great game mind you, then he can throw it at a charity instead. The world doesn't need Psychonauts 2 but it could do with some scholarships to help disadvantaged teens get into programming and game design, or cancer or kids with illnesses.

  • Gearskin #29 3 months ago

    @miiiguel How do you go from investing $13 million into an incredibly niche product to closing down EG within a fascist dictatorship?
    Edited by Gearskin at 15/02/12 @ 11:47

  • Lexx87 #30 3 months ago

    It's hardly 'incredibly niche'.

  • uknortherner2000 #31 3 months ago

    @munki83 It's entirely up to him what he throws his money at. Personally, I'm sick to death of hearing this argument, especially as all the money in the world never seems to be enough to stop children dying in Africa (plenty of begging TV adverts for that), or widespread famine due to economical mismanagement by corrupt regimes.

  • TheMoonRat #32 3 months ago

    Started playing Pyschonauts since Notch first mentioned funding a sequel; I've had the game for many years, just never got around to playing it. And you know what? It's pretty damn awesome! Funny, smart; and I've only just encountered the first annoying platform / poor restart part of the game 6 hours in. Really enjoying it

  • lolercopter #33 3 months ago

    No guts for Shenmue, eh Notch? Just kidding, this is wonderful news.

  • Gearskin #34 3 months ago

    @Lexx87 Retrospective fondness for the game doesn't change the fact that it was not a commercial success upon release. And considering development studios these days SHUT DOWN before their product even gets to sale... a sequel is hardly a guaranteed win.

    These crowd funded products sound nice on paper but does anyone think we will ever enter a golden age when your £40 pre-order is paid upfront... for a game that might not be released for years? Yeeeeeeeeah-no.

  • bad09 #35 3 months ago

    I've never played, or have interest in playing, Minecraft but I really do like this Notch bloke and to turn round to someone and say "take some of my success and make your game" is just awesome, we need more like him and Schafer.

    One day we won't need the likes of EA, Acti and Ubi messing things up and that will only be a good thing.

  • arcam #36 3 months ago

    @Gearskin Of course it's not a "guaranteed win"! But this is why alternative funding is starting to gain a foothold - people are getting sick of the fact that only "guaranteed wins" get the go-ahead!

  • Eraser #37 3 months ago

    @marmaduke @Sausagechaos @03tomsau @Toothball @rogermellie

    Thanks for the responses. I'll probably grab it from GOG or Steam then.

  • morriss #38 3 months ago

    WILL. NEVER. HAPPEN.

    (I'm trusting you, Pat!)

  • superflyninja #39 3 months ago

    in a word: "squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"

  • ShiftBreaker #40 3 months ago

    I'd love a PSN release of the first one. My laptop barely handles it, so it'd be nice to play without slowdown.

    So, Notch. Wanna' help out there, too?

  • Baleoce #41 3 months ago

    I get the feeling Notch is one of those kinds of people who would be awesome to go for a pint with.

  • dagas #42 3 months ago

    Money doesn't mean anything to that guy anymore..."13 million? Sure I've got that in my back pocket, no big deal." It's kind of sick how much money he's got at this point, but I guess investing it into making cideo games is better than reading about him buying a yacht or something that most super rich people would do with their money.

    I wonder how it is to live your life not worrying about money. I can't even buy food without worrying about every penny.

  • jebus #43 3 months ago

    @spekkeh It's becasue no one has any money to risk on new IP or stuff that doeesn't sell. Hence the army of fuckin FPS "insert title" sequels et al.
    Publishers generally haven't got a fucking clue which is why when they do get a hit they milk it till it bleeds.

  • CatWeazle #44 3 months ago

    I must be one of the only people in the world who doesn't find Minecraft to be a gainful or even enjoyable use of my time, and who doesn't think of Notch as some sort of gamer-god. However with this and other recent things, he's really starting to go up in my estimation.

  • levitate #45 3 months ago

    I bought Psychonauts in 2005 and I'd buy the sequel in a heartbeat. Good things are finally happening in these dark times and it has to be announced as loudly as possible.

  • juliankennedy23 #46 3 months ago

    Honestly it is a better use of 13 million to keep some programmers and QA people employed and end up producing something useful people may enjoy rather than spend the funds on a charity that may not really help anybody.

  • khelloc #47 3 months ago

    @ShiftBreaker

    Second that. I already played it on the PC, but i'd gladly play it on the PS too, were it available.

  • comedian #48 3 months ago

    I'd buy Psychonauts 2 in a heartbeat.