Double Fine’s publishing head departs, months after Xbox acquisition

Double Fine’s business development VP Greg Rice has departed the company for an unannounced role elsewhere in the games industry, he’s announced.

Rice worked at Double Fine for more than a decade in various roles, but he most recently overlooked the firm’s publishing initiative Double Fine Presents, which saw the Psychonauts firm mentor a roster of indie games including Knights and Bikes, Gang Beats and Everything.

Double Fine was acquired by Xbox Game Studios in June.

“Here’s something I never thought I’d say, yesterday was my last day at Double Fine,” Rice wrote on Twitter. “It’s been a dream come true working with the world’s greatest human [Tim Schafer] and the crew of incredibly talented, caring, wonderful people he’s assembled at Double Fine for the last decade.”

“I’m so proud of all the amazing things we’ve accomplished and really really sad to leave, but am comforted to be leaving them in a great spot with Psychonauts 2 looking amazing and the Microsoft sale ensuring many many more of the insanely creative games you’ve come to expect.”

Double Fine’s CEO, Tim Schafer previously said he was unsure if the developer would continue to publish indie games following its acquisition by Microsoft.

Speaking to Destructoid, Schafer said he didn’t know if it made sense to operate as “a publisher within [another publisher]”.

“How Double Fine Presents will evolve is kind of an unknown,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to do exactly the kind of publishing stuff if we can’t do it– like if the platforms are limited.

“From a business sense, I don’t know if it structurally makes sense to have a publisher within [another publisher]. It’s a complicated issue.”

However, the company founder said even if Double Fine doesn’t continue to publish games, it will still aim to continue helping indies with initiatives such as its annual Day of the Devs event, which it uses to help indie developers promote their titles.