Double Fine’s Double Cross?

In the spring of 2012, Tim Schafer’s game development company, Double Fine Productions, made history with its outrageously successful Kickstarter campaign. While he’d only hoped to raise $400,000 to create a classic point-and-click adventure game, the swell of support not only reached the goal within 8 hours, but exploded well beyond all expectations. In the end, Double Fine received $3.3 million in donations from eager backers.

With games like Psychonauts and The Secret of Monkey Island on his resume, who wouldn’t throw this man money?

However, it’s for this reason that public opinion is beginning to shift against Schafer, who said in an announcement to his project backers that the game was over-budget and behind schedule. This has come as a shock to much of the internets, considering that Double Fine received over eight times the projected budget. Some critics cite this example as a cautionary tale against crowdfunding, and recommend that investors think carefully before forking over their money to projects.

The question on everyone’s mind is, how can this situation have even come about in the first place? Double Fine received more than enough capital to move forward with their project, so how can it suddenly be out of scope? Has Tim Schafer betrayed us?