Double Fine announces fans will be able to vote for its next game, following Xbox split

Double Fine is bringing back its game jam initiative and letting fans pick its next game project, following the studio’s split from Xbox last month.

Amnesia Fortnight 2026 will launch on August 31 and feature a documentary and Kickstarter campaign, Double Fine announced on Friday.

“We’re going to do a Game Jam, live on the internet, in which our backers will get to choose which of our myriad of ideas get made into four new prototypes – and which of those final four will become a real (small) game,” the studio said.

Amnesia Fortnight is a game jam Double Fine traditionally held every few years, but which went on hiatus following its sale to Microsoft in 2019.

The two-week event sees the studio’s developers create game prototypes, with their development documented online, and fans eventually voting on which ones they’d like to see made into full games.

Previously, Amnesia Fortnight prototypes led to games such as Costume Quest, Spacebase DF-9, and Headlander. Others inspired parts of games, such as Compton’s Cookout in Psychonauts 2.

Alongside South of Midnight creators Compulsion, Double Fine was allowed to return to independence by its former owner Microsoft, with both companies retaining their IPs and game catalogs, and receiving investment to get them started.

Buying Double Fine games ‘helps support the studio’

Speaking to Kinda Funny Games alongside Friday’s Amnesia Fortnight announcement, Double Fine boss Tim Schafer said that although it had received financial runway from Microsoft, the game jam is designed to extend that.

“Being independent again [means] we can go back to doing a lot of things we were doing before, like crazy game jams, our usual fortnight game jam where we split into small groups and make a game in two weeks,” he said.

“We got a little bit of runway following the departure to sign some games. We want to sign some game deals and get going. It’s kind of a scary time to be out there. But it’s a runway, not a freeway – it won’t go forever.

“It’s just a little patch where we can take off on our own power. And we want to extend it a little bit, so we’re doing a game jam, which we used to do a lot.”

Schafer also confirmed that all of Double Fine’s previous game rights have returned to the studio, and that future sales of such games will help support the company’s future.

“The IP came back to us, and we’ve got the publishing rights back for our games. It still says Microsoft on some of them [because] it just takes a while to process. When people buy our games, it supports the studio.

“So if you’re curious, buying any of our games helps support the studio, and we can turn that money into extending that runway.”