Double Fine confirmed it now owns the IP and publishing rights to every game it made under Xbox

Double Fine confirmed on 22 August 2026 that it owns, or will shortly own, the intellectual property and publishing rights to every game it developed during its seven years under Xbox — the latest step in the studio's return to independence.

CEO Tim Schafer shared the news while answering fan questions on the Kinda Funny Games podcast. "The IP came back to us," Schafer said, according to Eurogamer. The studio also regained the publishing rights — the legal permission to sell and distribute — to its full catalogue of titles from the Xbox era.

Some games remain with Xbox for now. Schafer explained that the transfer takes time to fully process, so certain titles have not yet moved over. He encouraged fans to buy Double Fine's games wherever they are available, saying the revenue extends the studio's runway — the amount of time it can keep operating before it needs new funding.

The confirmation closes a circle that opened on 6 July 2026, when Double Fine announced it had become an independent studio again after seven years as part of Xbox. That split came as part of a wider reorganisation at Xbox, announced by CEO Asha Sharma in July, which affected roughly 3,200 roles across the company. Several studios, including Double Fine, were spun back out into independence while retaining their IP and back catalogues. Compulsion Games, another studio cut loose in the same restructuring, confirmed it retained ownership of its IP as well, according to Eurogamer.

The transition was not without cost. Double Fine laid off approximately a quarter of its 90-person team as part of the move away from Xbox, saying the cuts were necessary to reach a size the studio could sustain on its own, Eurogamer reported.

Now independent, Double Fine is looking ahead on two fronts. The studio plans to revive Amnesia Fortnight, its internal game jam — a period where the whole studio pauses regular work to prototype new ideas — as a Kickstarter campaign. Backers will vote on which prototype becomes the studio's next full project. The jam is set to run from 31 August through most of September, Eurogamer reported. Past Amnesia Fortnights have produced five playable prototypes from concept to demo, with fans voting on which ideas the studio would spend two weeks building.

Double Fine also has a new game on the way. Kiln, described as an online multiplayer pottery party brawler, is set to launch on 23 April 2026 on Steam, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox on PC, Xbox Cloud, Xbox Game Pass, and PlayStation 5, according to the studio's website. Matches are 4v4, with players fighting in pottery bodies whose size and shape determine their abilities. Victory comes from dousing the enemy team's kiln.

The studio has been here before. In 2013, Double Fine announced it had reacquired publishing and distribution rights to Costume Quest and Stacking, including for retail releases. Owning its own work is something of a tradition — one that, after seven years inside Xbox, the studio has now re-established across its full catalogue.