Some fans have taken online to discuss the possibility of Psychonauts 3 after Xbox shared a cryptic image seemingly alluding to the iconic series. While Double Fine Productions has been working on multiple new projects since at least 2021, it has so far given no indication that it's planning a follow-up on Psychonauts 2 in the foreseeable future.
The original Psychonauts from 2005 found a cult following after bombing at launch, with Double Fine taking more than a decade before deciding to pull the trigger on a sequel to its first-ever game. Psychonauts 2 was eventually announced in 2015 and financed via crowdfunding platform Fig. Double Fine took over half a decade to finish the game, which eventually came out in 2021, two years after the studio was acquired by Microsoft.
Xbox Australia and New Zealand recently fueled fan speculation that Psychonauts 3 is in the works with a cryptic social media message that's seemingly alluding to Double Fine's iconic puzzle-platformer series. The Monday post, shared on Facebook, features an image of a Tic-Tac-Toe board containing letters that spell out the word "psycho," along with three Xs. While some fans interpreted this as a Psychonauts 3 teaser, others were more realistic, positing that Psychonauts 2 was already willed into existence against all odds and that hoping for another installment in the franchise is naive, at best.
Irrespective of any social media teasers from Xbox, Psychonauts 3 seems unlikely to happen based on what Double Fine itself has been saying about its unannounced projects since the turn of the year. In an early February interview that saw him dismiss the idea of movie adaptations of Double Fine's games, the studio's founder and CEO, Tim Schafer, said that the company is currently focused on "new, original stuff."
So, while Double Fine is not coy about having multiple new projects in the works right now, the studio's leadership does not appear to be interested in revisiting the Psychonauts series. Any talk of a third installment in the franchise is hence somewhere on the spectrum between implausible and wishful thinking.
Long-time fans of the San Francisco-based developer might not necessarily be disappointed with this state of affairs. After all, Double Fine put out plenty of other critically acclaimed titles over the years, including Brutal Legend, Broken Age, and Grim Fandango Remastered. Therefore, a portion of the fandom might argue that the prospect of multiple new Double Fine IPs is at least as exciting as the unlikely notion of another Psychonauts game, if not more so.