A few hours before Tim had his chest pinned with that aforementioned award over in Las Vegas, IGN took advantage of his vulnerable state by talking with him extensively about all things Double Fine.
One of the other biggest changes for Schafer personally was Double Fine’s acquisition by Xbox, a move that opened a number of new doors for the studio. As Schafer puts it, Double Fine historically tends to make “weird” games that tend to be difficult to find funding for. But with Xbox’s support, he’s not only had the funding, but he’s also had the boon of Xbox Game Pass to put those weird games in front of people who might not have ever tried them at full price.
“Game Pass lets us reach people who maybe would've been too nervous to drop 70 bucks for a physical copy of a thing,” he says. “But they see it and it looks really compelling and they're like, ‘Oh, I'll just download it and play it.’ That's a great place for us to be, so that changes us, and I think it'll lead to us being more like ourselves and more creative…It's allowed me to move forward projects that I had on the back burner, thinking, ‘I would never be able to pitch this to a publisher. It's just too strange-sounding.’ And now we can make those games, so they're going to get weirder, that's all.”
A lot more ground than that is covered, so hear all of what Tim had to say in the final moments of his pre-Hall of Fame life. And savor it, because from now on you’ll only be hearing from him through an elaborate network of limo drivers and bodyguards, what with him being, formally speaking, a Big Shot.
