Tim Schafer, the founder and chief creative officer of Double Fine Productions, recently opened up about how his studio managed to stay afloat after a wave of layoffs at Xbox, insisting that "no one puts Double Fine out of business except me." In a candid conversation with Bloomberg, Schafer walked through the steps he took to safeguard the company’s intellectual property, secure new financing, and ultimately restore its independence. "When you hear the news, you think, ‘Hold on, we’re not going down like that,’" Schafer recalled. "Some of my colleagues thought about walking away, saying, ‘This is one too many battles for me.’ But for the rest of us it felt like a creative rebirth." The studio had been acquired by Microsoft in 2019, with then‑Xbox chief Phil Spencer confident that Double Fine’s titles would thrive on the Game Pass platform. After Spencer stepped down in February, Schafer observed a shift in leadership under Asha Sharma, especially as the releases Keeper of the Light and Kiln did not meet financial expectations.
"We were on a mutually beneficial mission: deliver great games to Game Pass. Then the mission changed. I can’t imagine any level of profitability—unless we scored a breakout hit on the scale of Minecraft that year—would have saved us," Schafer explained. He added a memorable line that underscored his resolve: "No one puts Double Fine out of business except for me.
Asha isn’t going to shoot my dog; I’m the one who would have to make that call, but I won’t because I believe in what we’re doing. Many people want to protect what we’ve built." Since the studio reclaimed its independence, Double Fine has trimmed 23 positions, bringing the headcount to just under 70 employees.
"We grew under Microsoft, but now we’ve returned to the sustainable size we had before, which is appropriate for an independent studio," Schafer said. The team is currently pitching fresh game concepts to investors, a process Schafer described as "really interesting after seven years of being under a corporate umbrella." He reflected on the broader industry shift: "The landscape has changed dramatically. After all these years, I still don’t fully grasp the business side, which shows how complex it is. That’s why my priority is keeping my team alive and continuing to make the wild, creative experiences we’re known for.
If we stopped taking creative risks, we’d become irrelevant. These games don’t generate huge profits; they have to be fun and rewarding to develop as well." When asked about the studio’s financial philosophy, Schafer emphasized that Double Fine has never deliberately pursued a project he expected to lose money.
"People might say, ‘Keeper looks like an art‑house title that no one expects to be a hit,’ but to me it’s the kind of game that could appeal to someone who doesn’t even play video games. I truly believe Keeper has mass‑market potential.
If we can reach those audiences, we could spark a wave of enthusiasm—what I like to call ‘Lighthouse Fever.’" Double Fine also announced its fifth Amnesia Fortnight event, a tradition where small internal teams prototype new game ideas. This iteration includes a Kickstarter campaign and a documentary produced by 2 Player Productions, offering fans a behind‑the‑scenes look at the creative process.
Schafer summed up the year’s challenges: "We’ve been through a lot—soul‑sucking moments, internal conflicts, threats of being shut down, grueling negotiations, and tough legal compromises. It’s been demoralising at times." Yet he remains optimistic about the creative problem‑solving that drives the studio forward. "The real fight is finding a great game idea that fits our budget and catches the eye of a publisher who values this kind of experience.
Solving those puzzles reignites our passion. Using creativity to overcome obstacles is what gets us out of bed each morning.
It’s hard, scary, and stressful, but it at least puts some fire back into the bellies of the team and me."