You cannot knock Tim Schafer: he abides by “Shut up and take my money”.

Last year we reported on the public negotiations between the heads of Mojang and Double Fine for a potential sequel to Psychonauts. The game was supposed to take “a couple” of million to make, which was later clarified to at least $13 million USD. This prompted the famous response from Notch, “Yeah, I can do that.”

Some time later, the deal fell by the wayside.

A storm never came that day, barely a ripple brushed against his wooden canoe.

Recently Notch was on Reddit and commented about the status of the sequel. The final budget ended up being around $18 million USD which ended up being beyond what Notch felt comfortable investing in. It was not for a lack of funds, however. Markus stated that he just did not have the time to be involved in an $18 million dollar deal.
 

The biggest point I would like to make is how little damage was caused by discussing this out in the open: the game fell through, at least for the moment, and no effigies were burnt. We might be approaching a time and an industry where these sorts of discussions will not need to be performed in strict secrecy.

Congratulations to Markus Persson and Tim Schafer for being brave or eccentric enough to trust the internet. We are sorry it didn't work out, but wish you luck in the future.