Tim Schafer Says Xbox Does Not Need Studios That Make Niche Games for Game Pass

The new leadership at Microsoft’s gaming division has brought new priorities.

Double Fine head and creative director Tim Schafer discussed the reasons that ultimately led to the studio’s departure from Xbox. According to him, the team’s fate was effectively sealed after Phil Spencer’s departure.

Schafer noted that Spencer originally viewed Double Fine as a studio ideally suited for Game Pass. The team was not required to constantly release massive commercial hits, as the assumption was that Double Fine would create unusual and diverse games to expand the subscription service catalog.

Schafer stated that this was a sort of unspoken agreement between the studio and Xbox leadership. However, the company’s approach changed later.

The Double Fine head also commented on the commercial results of the studio’s recent projects, Keeper and Kiln. He directly acknowledged that both games turned out to be commercial failures. At the same time, Schafer believes that even significantly higher sales would hardly have changed Double Fine’s fate.

In his view, the situation could have turned out differently only in the event of truly phenomenal success on the scale of Minecraft. This means that even noticeably better figures for Keeper and Kiln probably would not have provided a sufficient basis to maintain the previous strategy.