Persson has made a new post on his Tumblr post clarifying just what his position is. He wrote, ”Being a big fan of the first one, and thinking a sequel could probably be profitable, I semi-jokingly tweeted Tim about me funding a sequel. And then the internet exploded. (Or at least my inbox did) And then Double Fine did their highly successful kickstarter.”
The developer then stated flatly that he and Schafer hadn’t had any real contact aside from a few emails, and that he hoped to meet his counterpart at GDC. He also tellingly stated that the budget for Psychonausts turned out to be three times higher than he’d assumed - and that he wasn’t the only investor interested in backing a future game.
In other words, Persson is slowly backing out of the expectations that he will pay $13M to fund Psychonauts 2, though he also insists that he thinks ”the game would be profitable.”
Notch also made it clear that he would not be involved with the creative process in any way, so any rumors of a creative collaboration aren’t valid.
Finally, Persson pleaded, ”Point is, stop hyping over this, internet! You’re going to scare me into doing things secretly instead of being open and transparent via twitter. I am incredibly scared of the very real risk of people feeling let down just because I took a chance at something that doesn’t end up panning out.
“Also, I realize you won’t stop hyping, so I’ll just go into hiding for a few years if it falls through.”