We're all well aware at this point that Double Fine has left Xbox Game Studios and transitioned into an independent company, and boss Tim Schafer has been conducting various interviews recently about what's next for the studio.

You can find out a bit more about that elsewhere on Pure Xbox if you're interested - they've got a Kickstarter project in the works, they've added a big update for Kiln, they're making a "Thank You Bus Driver" game, and more!

Speaking to IGN about leaving Xbox Game Studios specifically, Schafer actually highlighted their time at Xbox as a "really great experience overall", pointing out that it was a "great partnership" until Xbox's priorities shifted.

"I learned a lot from it, and it was a really great experience overall. They invested a lot in the company, and their mission was to support Game Pass and other projects. So for a while, we were very closely aligned, and it was great. It was a great partnership, and then their goals changed, and so we parted ways because of that."

The Double Fine boss went on to explain that working alongside other Xbox studios such as Compulsion, Ninja Theory, Obsidian, and inXile allowed for a "really great learning experience", with everyone "exchanging ideas and technology".

However, when questioned about Xbox Game Pass and whether it "still has value and potential as a service", Schafer admitted that although he "really wants" it to work, he doesn't understand why it hasn't had more success.

"I really want Game Pass to work. I like the idea of subscription models for companies like us, who, you know, lower the barrier to entry for everyone. We want to make games that are weird and creative, that you might not understand at first. I think that's the kind of stuff we like to do. Do people see the key art and go like, "What?" And if it's on a subscription, you've already kind of paid for the game. You'd be more likely to try it, so that sounds good."

"But there are other ways to reach people like that, like lowering your prices, for example. You know, getting people to try your games like that. I think it could have worked. I don't understand why Netflix worked and Game Pass didn't, and I think that's something I just don't know enough about, but that's the way it is. So now we're taking another approach: making it really affordable."

The interview ends on a bit of a sad note with Schafer calling it "a s***ty time out there right now" for the games industry and developers as a whole, suggesting "it's been getting worse for longer than I've ever seen it get worse".

He's still "exhilarated" by Double Fine being an independent studio again though, explaining that the company is finding new avenues of funding and "just putting ourselves out there" to see who wants to team up on their future projects.

"A lot of the old avenues we used for funding are gone, but there are a lot of new ones. So we're just putting ourselves out there, meeting a lot of new people, and talking about who wants to make games with us."

So, what are your thoughts on what the Double Fine boss is saying here? Tell us in the comments below.