Psychonauts 2 is now available on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Double Fine's sequel to the cult classic action-platformer is already receiving high praise. Yet underneath the praise, there is also a line of criticism. Psychonauts 2 supports six language, including English, Europe's FIGS (French, Italian, German, and Spanish), and Brazilian Portuguese. Given Psychonauts 2's success, its led for a call for further language support. Double Fine, however, says that budget limitations are preventing it from doing so.
Double Fine community manager James Spafford confirmed the unfortunate news on the company's public forums. A Chinese Double Fine fan asked if Psychonauts 2 could be localized with Simplified and Traditional Chinese. The post then accrued over 800 upvotes, prompting an official response. Spafford responded that Double Fine "would love to add more languages to Psychonauts 2." However, he says that due to the Psychonauts 2's script being so large, the work would require "a lot of extra budget that we currently do not have."
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For the time being, Double Fine is currently evaluating whether it can add more languages to the game. Given the budgetary concerns that prevented Double Fine from adding more languages pre-launch, additional languages post-launch likely heavily depends on Psychonauts 2's overall success. If the game is successful enough in markets where it's expected to be lucrative, then that justifies supporting languages for markets where success is less reliable.
The news that Double Fine is citing budgetary issues as the reason for fewer languages is stirring some concern among some fans. Double Fine was recently acquired by Microsoft, after all, so budget should be less of an issue. The situation is obviously more complicated than that. Any publisher, Microsoft included, isn't going to budget something that isn't guaranteed to be successful. And Double Fine is going prioritize putting that budget into game development over risky investments that may not pay off.
Pyschonauts 2's development is more complicated than most games, too. It was originally pitched on crowdfunding website Fig, which means that there are independent investors involved in the project that will pull from the game's profits. Microsoft is obviously involved in the game's funding and publishing now, but like with Obsidian Entertainment's The Outer Worlds, Microsoft's priority is likely on future Double Fine projects that don't have other partners involved.
Knowing Double Fine, if it's possible to add support for more languages, it will do it. If it was up to Double Fine and budget wasn't a concern, there'd likely be voicework for every language, too. It isn't wholly up to Double Fine, however. It's up to players to help make Psychonauts 2 a success. The best way to contribute to that is to play the game and in doing so maybe help someone who speaks a different language get a proper localization.
Psychonauts 2 is available now on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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Source: Double Fine
