Zak McClendon, who previously worked as design director at 2K Marin on projects such as BioShock 2 and The Bureau: XCOM Declassified, has announced via Twitter that he is joining Double Fine Productions as the lead designer of Psychonauts 2.
McClendon has also worked at Harmonix on projects like Rock Band 4, as well as Crystal Dynamics on an original IP that never released. In a series of Tweets, McClendon expressed excitement not only for joining the Psychonauts 2 team, but for getting back into the game industry full-time after a year-and-a-half-long stint as a freelance design consultant.
Psychonauts 2 reached its goal of $3.3 million on January 12 using the new investment/crowd-funding platform Fig, which Double Fine president and CEO Tim Schafer is on the advisory board for. Psychonauts 2 currently does not have a release date.
[Source: Zak McClendon on Twitter, LinkedIn]
Our Take
McClendon has experience heading up design teams for sequels of beloved properties, even if BioShock 2 and The Bureau: XCOM Declassified aren't necessarily regarded as the high points of their respective series. Even so, we hope that crucial experience comes in handy, as there is quite a bit of enthusiasm surrounding Psychonauts 2.