Crowdfunding Psychonauts 2 was a success, so why doesn't Double Fine have its money yet?

The crowdfunding campaign for Psychonauts 2 successfully reached its $3.3 million goal nearly a month ago, but the team at Double Fine has yet to receive more than $1.8 million dollars in equity investment. That's because the related filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission has yet to be approved.

Double Fine Productions launched the campaign for Psychonauts 2 on the novel new crowdfunding platform called Fig, which allows for traditional rewards-based funding alongside equity investment. The Psychonauts 2 campaign was especially unique in that it allowed anyone, not just high-net-worth individuals, to invest in the game.

Fig tells Polygon that the first-of-its kind campaign raised $1,954,524 in rewards-based money as well as $1,874,500 in equity investment. But while the rewards-based money has been collected, the equity investment portion is still outstanding because of an additional round of clarifications requested by the SEC.

"The SEC filing must be qualified before we can collect the investment reservations placed by unaccredited investors," Fig told Polygon via email. "We received comments back from the SEC on Jan. 17, which was 26 days after we made our filing, and the number of comments we received were low. As a result, we currently expect to be able to complete the unaccredited process in the next 4 to 8 weeks."

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Fig's first campaign, for the award-winning space exploration title Outer Wilds, was able to land $75,000 in equity investment on its way to a successful campaign. The campaign served as a proof of concept, and also attracted nearly $1 million in investor interest.

However, Fig's second campaign — for a free-to-play title by the developers of multi-platform hit Scribblenauts — failed, coming in $400,000 short of its $500,000 goal.

The campaign for Psychonauts 2, unveiled during a December broadcast of The Game Awards, caught many in the industry by surprise. After quickly reaching more than a million dollars in funding, it took the balance of its month-long campaign to cover the $3.3 million ask. The final tally was more than $3.8 million. Fig says that the majority of rewards-based backers contributed an average of $81, while investors were more likely to fall in the $500 to $2,000 range.

"We already emailed all the investors with an update letting them know we’ve received comments back from the SEC and outlining next steps," Fig representatives said. "Once the filing is qualified, they can complete their investment profile, which includes collecting [banking and wire transfer information], and sign the final investment documents. Once that’s complete, money is transferred, their shares are qualified and we collect info on where to send their payments."

Double Fine told Polygon that the total budget for Psychonauts 2 was between $10 and $13.5 million, with funding coming from the studio itself, the Fig campaign and an as yet unnamed silent investor.

Are you an investor in Psychonauts 2? I'd like to hear from you, and stay in touch until the expected 2018 release. Send an email to charlie@polygon.com or via Twitter.