Notch offers $13 million to fund Psychonauts 2

Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson has told Tim Schafer he would have no problem stumping up $13 million to fund development of a Psychonauts sequel.

Last week, Schafer revealed he had pitched Psychonauts 2 to publishers but had been knocked back, saying someone would "just have to give me a few million dollars" for it to happen. Enter Persson, who offered on Twitter to fund it out of his Minecraft war chest.

Speaking to Kotaku, Schafer said: "I was like, 'I don't think you can make [it] for a million dollars.' The original game was, I think, $13 million, I think you have to match the original game.

"As soon as I mentioned the amount of money he said: 'Yeah, I can do that'."

Persson later apologised for making his offer on Twitter, where he has 585,000 followers. "He said he had no idea it would get picked up like this," Schafer said. "He said: 'Sorry for putting you on the spot, I didn't realise it would go so big'.

"I feel like I was being proposed to on the jumbotron at the baseball game."

Whether Persson funds a new Psychonauts or not, Schafer says he's keen to work with him. "He's been pretty successful," he said. "And, when you look into [Minecraft], it's a really inspiring story. He's just a regular guy. He didn't do anything sleazy to get it. He just made it himself, distributed it himself, it's a great story.

"I think we have a lot to learn from him, so I'd like to do something with him. And I'd like to make Psychonauts 2."

Source: Kotaku