Tim Schafer: Microsoft’s Game Pass Shift Led to Double Fine Split; ‘Someone Is Being Greedy’ in Industry Layoffs

Tim Schafer, founder of Double Fine Productions, has opened up about why his acclaimed studio is parting ways with Xbox after seven years, blaming a strategic misalignment over how Microsoft wants to deploy its subscription service.

In a BBC interview, Schafer explained that Double Fine’s original mission was to “really support Game Pass and fill it with as much goodness as we could,” contributing about 13 games to the service across its back catalogue and new releases. However, Xbox’s direction has shifted. “Their model I think is changing. They’re going in a different direction with fewer, larger IPs,” Schafer said. “So our technique of making a lot of little IPs isn’t aligned with that. We wanted to keep doing that, so we went our separate ways.”

Despite the split, Schafer remains bullish on Game Pass itself, especially for quirky, experimental titles like those Double Fine makes. “If you’re sitting in a store and holding a disc, and it costs $70, and it’s about a walking lighthouse, there’s a barrier there,” he explained. “But if you’ve just got to download a game you’ve already paid for, it might lead people to trying weird games like Double Fine makes.” He also praised Microsoft for letting the studio “completely be ourselves” and become “a bigger version of ourselves” during their partnership.

Broader Industry Malaise

Speaking to the wider state of game development, Schafer expressed bewilderment at the ongoing wave of layoffs that has defined the industry for the past four years. “I don’t understand the economics of making games,” he told the BBC. “People are playing games, people are making money, so I don’t know why there is a big loss of jobs. I assume someone is being greedy somewhere.”

He characterized the sector as increasingly hostile to workers, though he remains optimistic about recovery and the creative vitality emerging especially from indie developers. “There’s a lot of life, excitement, and creativity in the games industry now, especially in the indie space,” Schafer said. “I think a lot of triple-A games do a lot of great creative work, it’s just been a much more violent place to work.”

Double Fine is currently running Amnesia Fortnite, its annual game jam in which the team produces four smaller-scope titles. This year’s public Kickstarter vote selected projects including a city builder featuring structures that move like giant robots and a cooperative multiplayer dungeon-crawler called Bard Crawl.