When several companies left the Xbox camp to go independent early July 2026, the first thing out of my mouth was, “It doesn’t mean a thing if these studios go independent if they can’t get the money needed to stay afloat.” I know it was either that or potentially get shut down, but that wasn’t an absolute.
And I hate being right, but here we go. Today, Tim Schafer, the founder of Double Fine Productions took to social media and revealed that the company has let go of 23 members of its team. And when you think about it, that is a lot of people, especially for a studio the size of Double Fine.
Today, Double Fine Productions let go of 23 members of our staff.
As a small, tightly-knit team, these actions are not taken lightly. Only the survival of our studio would ever make us consider such a painful action. Our transition to becoming an independent company also means becoming a size that we can sustain.
The people we are losing were all important. They all made an impact on our games and culture, and they will be missed.
We are committed to supporting each affected person as best as we can, and we thank them for their hard work and commitment to the creative spirit we cherish here at Double Fine.
-Tim
It goes without saying that Double Fine is doing everything it can to keep the studio from closing, but losing 23 people from a team this size hurts. Double Fine has not revealed exactly how many people currently work at the studio. However, an NLRB filing from May listed 42 regular full-time and part-time employees, although that number did not include supervisors and several other positions.
So, no, we cannot say Double Fine just lost more than half of its entire workforce. But regardless of the exact number, losing 23 people is still a massive cut for the studio.
This is exactly what I was worried about when Xbox announced that Double Fine and several other studios would become independent. Going independent sounds great compared to being shut down, but that does not mean those studios are suddenly safe. They still need money to pay their staff and keep the lights on. And at the moment, we do not even know if Double Fine is working on a new game.
Hopefully, this is enough to keep Double Fine going. But it still sucks that 23 people have lost their jobs, especially after everyone was celebrating the studio becoming independent again.
