Tim Schafer, founder of Double Fine Productions has spoken out on publishers’ reluctance to invest in new intellectual properties. Opening up to DigitalSpy.Com, Schafer states that “Publishers often don’t want to release anything new…They’re scared of new IP, and Double Fine specializes in new IP.” He continues on by stating that the digital revolution and emergence of smaller scale digital download projects has helped combat this trend, alleviating some of the financial risk publishers take when signing a new intellectual property. He even states that the entire reason Double Fine’s recently released Happy Action Theater was made was was due to the developer asking for very little funding, therefore, minimizing risk and capital investment any potential publisher would have to make.

We recently did our own analysis of new properties being launched on Xbox Live Arcade, which can be found here. It takes a look at the number of new IP’s launched, and the average metacritic score of those IP’s compared to sequels, ports and remakes released on XBLA in 2011. Anyone interested in the trends of the gaming industry should give it a read. In the mean time, don’t forget that Double Fine’s new IP Happy Action Theater and Rise of the Martian Bear DLC for Iron Brigade are available now on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Source: DigitalSpy.com