Double Fine: Brutal Legend 2 Cancellation Led to Developer’s ‘Dark Ages’

Speaking to GamesIndustry, Double Fine's lead programmer Oliver Franzke has said the period following the cancellation of Brutal Legend 2 by EA was the studio's "dark ages". 

He added that the studio decided the risk of continuing to operate was worth it as this allowed employees to “make their ideas happen.”

The change in how Double Fine worked created a focus on smaller projects which meant the studio could focus on maintaining the right culture with achievable goals.

"Double Fine hasn’t grown at all since Brutal Legend, we’re still very much the same team size,, In fact, we wouldn’t actually be able to put more people into our building because we’re maxed out.

“It really feels more like a family… A lot of people at Double Fine have been working there since the early days, for ten, 12 years, and it’s almost impossible in the games industry to find somebody who’s worked for a company for more than two years or something like that.”

Franzke said this outlook suits the studio better and praised studio head Tim Schafer for creating a sense of community within the staff, but he admitted that it can be difficult to strike the right balance.

“It’s challenging for us sometimes to run with the creativity and take the risk, and to make this financially work, it’s not easy but it’s possible,” he said. “You have to choose your projects carefully at the end of the day.”

Double Fine is currently developing Kickstarter funded project Broken Age which will be distributed in two parts with an early access version being released to help fund additional development.