Monkey Island Franchise May Have a Future.
Ron Gilbert told Eurogamer that he would consider talking to Disney “at some point” in hopes of winning back the rights to Monkey Island. Disney bought Lucasfilm back in October, meaning they also acquired LucasArts, who happens to be the developer of the series.
Gilbert doesn’t want to see his series end now, saying,”I would love to get the rights back to Monkey Island and be able to really make the game I want to make.”
He voiced his concern that Disney may simply abandon the franchise, expressly due to the fact that Disney stated LucasArts would be redesigned as a developer of casual games. On the other hand, it seems entirely possible for them to make a pirate-themed game due to their success with Pirates of the Caribbean.
On the subject, Gilbert said,”Pirates of the Caribbean is a rip-off of Monkey Island which is a rip-off of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. So it’s hard for me to get too mad at Disney when I ripped them off originally.”
Assuming that everything goes well with Disney, the next Monkey Island title would be made by Double Fine studios, led by Tim Schafer. Gilbert said that he would then plan to stay there for the future. “As long as Tim doesn’t fire me.” he then joked.
Anyone else who is a fan of the Monkey Island games can probably concur that this is something we’d love to see happen. Even if you aren’t a fan, it would be incredible to see Disney actually hand over the rights to anything. Hopefully, Ron will be able to bring this great series back to life.
