On July 6, Double Fine (alongside Compulsion Games, Ninja Theory, and Undead Labs) officially split from Xbox—seven years and one month after their acquisition. The makers of Psychonauts and Brütal Legend are now independent again, and that means they have to find ways to finance projects on their own. This is not the first time they were left on ice, however, meaning they have some experience, and even a certain fan expectation, which they can fall back on now that they find themselves in a similar spot.
Today, during a stream on the Kinda Funny Games channel, Tim Schafer, the studio’s founder, president, CEO, and the creative director for many of its games, announced the re-opening of their game jam funding project: Amnesia Fortnight 2026, Indie Reboot. Amnesia Fortnight is an annual, two-week game jam that happens inside Double Fine that became a fundraiser on three separate occasions prior to this new announcement: in 2012, 2014, and 2017.
The previous iterations allowed everyone who paid one dollar to vote on game pitches from Double Fine employees. The most-voted ones were then turned into playable prototypes. This time, the top four will become real (small) games. Alongside this, each public Amnesia Fortnight game jam received its own documentary series, and this one will be no different, with 2 Player Productions (responsible for the excellent PsychOdyssey) doing the filming.
For long-standing fans of the studio, the project will bring back memories and provide an opportunity to directly support the creators as they once again operate the ever-busy independent scene. You can find the Kickstarter page here, where you can sign up to be notified of its launch on August 31. If you’re interested in learning more about their current state, you should check out the aforementioned hour-long stream, but for a particularly interesting tidbit, Schafer revealed that their final Xbox game—Kiln—will soon receive a big update and a price drop. He also described it as being “made for Game Pass” and being “very popular on Game Pass.”
For more info on the future of Double Fine and other studios that separated from Xbox, stay tuned to GameObserver.
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