Double Fine Reclaims Costume Quest and Stacking

[Andy Chalk]

Double Fine Reclaims Costume Quest and Stacking

Double Fine Productions has regained the rights to Stacking and Costume Quest and will release them, along with Psychonauts, at retail next year.

Double Fine alpha dog Tim Schafer said back in May [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123964-Double-Fine-Seeking-Rights-to-Own-Everything-It-Makes] that he wanted to reclaim the rights to all the studio's games, not just for financial reasons but to tie up the "loose ends" that trouble him so. He took a run at looting Costume Quest and Stacking from the corpse of THQ but couldn't pull it off, so instead he turned his attention to the people who did pull it off - Nordic Games - and this time around he's had more success.

"I am pleased that we have regained full control over Costume Quest and Stacking, following a daring and top-secret midnight raid on the Nordic Games headquarters in Vienna," Schafer said in a statement. Terms of the deal weren't revealed, but Nordic CEO Lars Wingefors suggested that it was in fact an amicable arrangement. "I feel compelled to point out that we were happy to transfer distribution rights for Costume Quest and Stacking back to Double Fine in an entirely non-secretive and heist-free manner," he said.

With the two games back in Double Fine's hands, the studio is joining with Nordic for a retail release of both, as well as the cult classic Psychonauts, planned for the first half of 2014. It will be the first non-digital release for both Costume Quest and Stacking.

Justin Bailey, business development vice president at Double Fine, said the studio will continue its efforts to bring all relevant rights back in-house, "no matter how many split-second security system hacks or painstaking tunneling operations we have to execute."


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[CriticalMiss]

Fingers crossed this means they can release some more CQ and Psychonauts in the near future, after they finish the other dozen or so titles they have in the works...

 

[vun]

Despite the claims of heist-free transfer I would like to imagine there was at least some heist-like ceremony involved.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

Wait wait... seriously? One of their executives names is actually "Justin Bailey"? You didn't just make that up?

 

[Eric the Orange]

ooooooh, would love to see more costume quest.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

I'm kinda hoping that the retail re-releases are standalone. Then I would buy a retail copy of Psychonauts right away. I wouldn't actually open it, I've already gotten the game twice through Steam and Humble Bundle, I would just leave the unopened box sitting on my shelf, looking sexy.

 

[wulfy42]

Yeah, sign me up for a sequel to costume quest...but with more difficulty, longer game play (at least the length of the original + DLC)...and much more leveling up/costume options.

It was a blast, but seemed short (Even though I got both the original and dlc together), and WAY to easy.

Optional boss fights for additional badges, more costumes, being able to level up costumes etc...all would really improve on the game that was already quite fun.

I don't see re-releasing either costume quest or psycho as being worth it. I have the games on multiple platforms already.....and I'm not buying any of them yet again.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

I really liked Stacking and I wouldn't mind seeing the game expanded. The kids really got into it too. Never played Costume Quest though.

 

[Grabehn]

I love how the "conversation" near the end was prety much like this:

"Schafer: We totally pulled a heist and got our stuff back dude!

Wingefors: No you didn't Timmy, get back on the playground."

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Now if they could complete the games currently in development...

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Well done them. It's strange how property rights work, particularly when the holder goes under, gets swallowed up and so on. System Shock 2 I remember reading was a nightmare to untangle the rights for. Apparently it took a lot of work of speaking to lots of people none of whom could be sure whether they did or didn't own the IP.

Then you have bulls**t stuff like Eidos can't sell Hitman: Contracts any more because of a song in the soundtrack or something. WotC are apparently horrible to work with and ridiculous in their demands for how D&D is handled and is likely the reason why there haven't been any D&D CRPGs in many years.

Anyway, well done to Tim, I applaud the sentiment and the results both. It would've been cooler if they'd abseiled into the Nordic Games HQ under cover of darkness though, navigating infrared alarm beams and pressure plates to retrieve them.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

What, no Brutal Legend rerelease? They own the rights to that now, too, I believe. If this is meant to be a "DoubleFine Classics Pack" or some such it would be a shame to leave it out.

It would be interesting to see what they do for the Psychonauts rerelease; whether or not they plan to re-render the cutscenes for HD displays, fix some of the Linux bugs, and change the controller settings menu so it doesn't show a bunch of joystick buttons, for example. For the most part, the game's graphics have held up pretty well; it had anti-aliasing even before they bought the rights back and started patching it out the wazoo. There's just a few hitches left that stand out.

 

[Illessa]

I love how the "conversation" near the end was prety much like this:

"Schafer: We totally pulled a heist and got our stuff back dude!

Wingefors: No you didn't Timmy, get back on the playground."

Schafer (assume it's him anyway) seems to love taking the piss out of press release colour quotes. See DF-9 Announcement [http://www.doublefine.com/news/comments/spacebase_df-9_is_alive_in_early_alpha_access_form/], Android Middle Manager of Justice [http://www.doublefine.com/news/comments/middle_manager_of_justice_now_on_android/], Stacking on PC [http://www.doublefine.com/news/comments/stacking_coming_to_pc/]... basically every press release Double Fine do