Double Fine’s business development VP and longtime developer Greg Rice has announced he’s leaving the studio for an unannounced new position elsewhere in the game industry.
Rice’s departure comes shortly after the decades-old studio was acquired by Microsoft earlier this year, though he notes in a heartfelt Twitter thread that he’s comforted by future that newly forged relationship ensures for Double Fine.
“Here's something I never thought I'd say, yesterday was my last day at Double Fine. 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," tweeted Rice.
“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.”
While Rice voices his support for Double Fine’s life as a Microsoft subsidiary, the future of several of the studio’s dealings he watched over, like Day of the Devs and the publishing arm Double Fine Presents, were called into question shortly after the ink dried on the acquisition.
In September for instance, Double Fine founder Tim Schafter shared that the future of the latter program was up in the air after the acquisition and, at the time, the studio was still working to figure out the role it would play following its arrangement with Microsoft.
However, Rice doesn't note any specific reasons for his departure in his thread. Instead he shares memories from his time at the studio and mentions that details on his next adventure will emerge later on.
It's time I set off on some new adventures. I've got something really cool lined up, still in games, and am excited about the future. But for now, I'm going to enjoy these final moments with some of my best friends of all time and try not to dissolve into a puddle. ðŸ˜ðŸ§¡ðŸ§¡ pic.twitter.com/oN0vQbzaEK
— Greg Rice (@GregRicey) November 15, 2019