Give Double Fine $100 Million and It’ll Make Brutal Legend 2
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Double Fine has launched a Kickstarter campaign, Amnesia Fortnight 2026, letting fans fund and choose the newly independent studio's next project, with a tongue-in-cheek stretch goal promising a sequel to cult favourite Brutal Legend if backers pledge $100 million. The studio itself concedes this target is extremely unlikely to be reached, framing it as a nod to fan enthusiasm rather than a realistic plan, though the campaign has generated notable buzz and debate among commenters about Double Fine's track record with budgets and past Kickstarter successes such as Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.
In practice, backers will help whittle down a batch of game jam prototypes to four finalists before voting for one overall winner, which Double Fine will then develop into a small game released under its new label, Double Fine Action Labs. The Kickstarter closes on 30 September 2026, after which work on the winning concept will begin, with the studio's various pitch videos already available for prospective backers to review before voting.
- Double Fine's Kickstarter lets fans pick its next small game.
- $100 million stretch goal jokingly promises Brutal Legend 2.
- Campaign closes 30 September 2026; winner enters production after.
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Double Fine is a well-known independent video game studio, founded by Tim Schafer, that has made a name for itself with quirky, comedy-driven games. It has now launched a Kickstarter, called Amnesia Fortnight 2026, which invites the public to fund and help choose what the studio makes next, continuing a tradition of fan-involved game jams the studio has run before.
As part of the campaign, Double Fine has set a joke stretch goal: if backers pledge $100 million, an unlikely sum, it will make a sequel to Brutal Legend, a cult 2009 action game starring Jack Black that is fondly remembered by fans despite modest commercial success at the time. Double Fine itself has acknowledged this target is not realistic and is intended more as a nod to fan enthusiasm than a genuine promise.
The serious purpose of the campaign is to fund a small new game under Double Fine's new label, Double Fine Action Labs, with backers voting on which of several prototype ideas gets developed further. The story matters to those interested in independent game development and crowdfunding because it illustrates how established studios use fan campaigns both to raise money and to gauge public interest, while also fuelling wider discussion about Double Fine's history with managing budgets on past projects.
Full account
Double Fine has kicked off a new Kickstarter campaign, Amnesia Fortnight 2026: Indie Reboot, and buried among its stretch goals is a tantalising promise: raise $100 million (roughly £74 million) and the studio will make a sequel to its 2009 heavy-metal action game Brutal Legend. "Yes, really," the campaign page states, though both outlets covering the story are quick to point out that reaching such a sum through crowdfunding is, realistically, a near-impossibility.
The campaign follows Double Fine's return to independence earlier this year. Coverage notes that the studio parted ways with Xbox amid a wider round of layoffs affecting thousands of jobs across Microsoft's gaming division, with several first-party studios changing hands in the process. As part of the split, Double Fine regained ownership of its full back catalogue, including Psychonauts, Kiln and Brutal Legend itself, which is presumably what has made a hypothetical sequel possible to dangle as an incentive at all.
Away from the headline-grabbing stretch goal, the actual purpose of the Kickstarter is to fund Double Fine's long-running Amnesia Fortnight tradition, a two-week internal game jam dating back to 2007 in which staff pitch wild ideas and build quick prototypes. Backers get a say in the outcome: around two dozen pitches will be whittled down to four favourites by public vote, one of which will then be developed further and released as a small, complete game under a new publishing imprint, Double Fine Action Labs. The drive also funds a behind-the-scenes documentary from 2 Player Productions, the team behind the earlier Double Fine documentary series Psychodyssey. The campaign is due to close on 30 September 2026.
Framed against that modest, achievable goal, the $100 million Brutal Legend 2 pledge reads as a knowing joke rather than a genuine plan, and reporting on the story leans into that: the most money ever raised by any Kickstarter project sits at around $46 million (for a 3D printer), while the best-funded video game campaign, Shenmue 3, brought in roughly $6 million. Against that backdrop, Double Fine's own fundraiser was, at the time of writing, sitting at a few hundred thousand pounds of its initial goal — nowhere close to fantasy sequel territory, but enough to keep the actual game jam project on track.
Where outlets differ
One outlet frames the story mainly around whether fans will pledge and leans on reader/community reaction, including unverified forum speculation about the original Brutal Legend's budget and Jack Black's fee — figures that aren't corroborated reporting and are treated here with caution rather than stated as fact.
The other outlet gives more background on the circumstances of Double Fine's split from Xbox, including the scale of layoffs and which studios changed ownership, and cites specific, up-to-date fundraising figures (e.g. progress in GBP against the initial goal) and comparative Kickstarter records.
The second source also highlights some of the quirkier game jam pitch titles (e.g. Lesbian Sled Death, Friendslap, Brouroboros) and quotes directly from Double Fine's campaign description, giving a lighter, more editorial tone; the first source is framed more as a discussion prompt inviting reader comment.