Psychonauts 2 became a bigger game after Xbox acquisition says developers

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Psychonauts 2 managed to grow in scale thanks to Xbox Studio’s acquisition of the game’s developer Double Fine. 

The upcoming psychedelic sequel managed to give fans more to look forward to and more to play through after its studio, Double Fine, was acquired by Microsoft to join the Xbox Studios family back in 2019. 

According to a recent interview between Axios (opens in new tab) and Lauren Scott, a senior system designer at the studio: “To quote the age-old adage, you know, money is time.” The video game developer also added that: “We definitely got a bit of breathing room for our enemies that were more on the tail end of things that needed some more love.”

It was previously revealed that Psychonauts 2 was able to have some of its content restored after it was inevitably cut to maintain its production schedule. According to the studio’s founder Tim Schafer (in a previous interview with Games Industry (opens in new tab)) the team had to make the decision to cut some boss fights from the game, which Schafer notes: ”we think people would have noticed if we didn’t have those boss fights. […] Being able to complete the game in the way that it was meant to be was very important.”

After a very long time in development – Psychonauts 2 was first announced in 2015 – fans of Double Fine’s quirky 3D platformer can finally revisit Raz and the rest of the characters they loved from the first game on August 25, 2021. Although the studio behind the game is now part of the Xbox Studio’s family, Double Fine has announced several times (opens in new tab) that this does not mean it is an Xbox exclusive title. 

This isn’t to say that those who do play it on Xbox though won’t have any perks as Psychonauts 2 will be available on Xbox Game Pass from day one of its release. It also technically runs slightly better on Xbox Series X/S when compared to PS5 due to the game playing via backwards compatibility on the next-gen PlayStation console. 

Psychonauts 2 will release on 25 August 2021 and will be available to play on PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS5 (via backwards compatibility), and PC. 

Find out why Double Fine’s highly-anticipated sequel is 2021’s secret GOTY contender in our Psychonauts 2 hands-on impressions preview.