Notch downplays Psychonauts 2 funding offer
"I have NO idea if this is actually going to happen."
Minecraft maker Notch has downplayed his potential funding of Psychonauts 2.
Notch set the internet alight after offered to fund the game in a tweet to Double Fine boss Tim Schafer.
Schafer later said it would cost at least $13 million to make the game, to which Notch apparently replied: "I can do that."
But now it appears as if Notch isn't sure the game's a goer.
In a blog post titled "Hype" the Mojang chief said Schafer's development budget estimation was three times higher than he expected.
"Tim and I haven't spoken much at all other than a couple of emails," he said. "We mentioned meeting at GDC, I hope that will happen. I assume Double Fine will be very busy for many months with the Kickstarter project.
"The budget for doing a Psychonauts 2 is three times higher than my initial impression. A couple of other parties have mentioned also being interested in investing in it. I would not be investing in this as a charity. It would be because I think the game would be profitable. And naturally, I wouldn't want to have any creative input in the game. It would be purely a high risk investment in a project I believe in."
Notch's mention of the Kickstarter project is in reference to Double Fine's hugely successful crowd-sourcing of funding for an adventure game.
Schafer raised $1 million in a day after setting a $400,000 target on Kickstarter. The total raised is now approaching $2 million.
This game, Notch believes, is of higher priority than any Psychonauts sequel.
"I have NO idea if this is actually going to happen," he said. "The Kickstarter stuff obviously changes the playing field a lot. Investing that incredibly high amount of money also requires a lot of planning and discussion, and I've never done anything like that before, but I do have contacts and advisors to help me out.
"All I know is that IF the numbers work out and IF they still want to do it and IF they don't decide to self-fund a sequel by doing more crowd-funding (which is honestly what I would've done if I were them), I would be most interested in doing this type of investment."
Notch called for calm: "Point is, stop hyping over this, internet! You're going to scare me into doing things secretly instead of being open and transparent via Twitter. I am incredibly scared of the very real risk of people feeling let down just because I took a chance at something that doesn't end up panning out.
"Also, I realize you won't stop hyping, so I'll just go into hiding for a few years if it falls through."
