Sega to publish Ron Gilbert’s The Cave

Double Fine may have made headlines with a $3.3 million crowdfunding campaign for their new adventure game, but the studio hasn’t bid farewell to publishers altogether.

The studio has announced a deal with Sega that will launch a separate project, The Cave, headed by Ron Gilbert, The Cave, for digitial download in early 2013.

The Double Fine Kickstarter Adventure Game broke records on the crowdfunding site, and led many to suggest that the role of traditional publishers in getting mid-level productions to market had been changed forever.

But as digital download services become the distribution platform of choice, big publishers still want smaller games, and smaller studios still want big publishers for the marketing and PR support that comes with a deal.

"As SEGA continues to expand our digital gaming catalog, we’ve put a lot of effort into finding truly original experiences we can help bring to life," said Haruki Satomi, Senior Vice President of Digital Business at SEGA.

"Both Ron and the team at Double Fine are experienced and deeply creative, and we value the chance to work with them on The Cave.”

Gilbert, the creator of classic adventure games like Monkey Island, was equally enthusiastic about the deal.

“The concept of The Cave has been bouncing around in my head for many, many years, and then the little voices that tell me to do things said it was time to make the game,” said Gilbert.

“I’m thrilled to be working with amazingly talented folks at Double Fine and ecstatic that the team at SEGA believes in adventure games and quirky ideas."

The Cave and Tim Schafer’s new Kickstarter adventure game are being developed simultaneously at Double Fine under a new strategy in which multiple teams at the studio pursue seperate projects.