I’ve been thinking this myself too. I get tired of seeing TV and film franchises that ended years ago suddenly get dragged out of the ground and injected with botox. I’m a massive, massive fan of The X Files but was pretty wary when they announced a comeback. It wasn’t bad, and two of the episodes were pretty decent. But I’d much rather see something new, something that’s taken effort and creativity instead of relying on predefined characters and storylines. And that extends to video games.
Having said all that, I’m really enjoying Twin Peaks.
So the game didn’t light the world on fire. It did sell well for LucasFilm’s standards, if not by Sierra’s. Sierra was always in a league of their own, and LucasFilm Games always had a bit of Sierra-envy.
While Loom had been greeted with critical uncertainty, reviewers fell over themselves to praise The Secret of Monkey Island, which wasted no time in becoming Lucasfilm Games’s biggest hit to date.
Anyway, that statement from Mr. Gilbert you quoted hardly sounds like Mr. Gilbert already had written a full and long story and chopped it into three pieces from the beginning.
The point is that it was profitable enough for the second one to have been approved and released.
The first game had its own complete story arc, so had the second one never been released, that would have been that.
I’m sure that if the opportunity to make a third game comes, and it falls within his parameters and conditions, Mr. Gilbert will consider it. However, I doubt that he’s losing sleep thinking about it, or hanging by the phone waiting for Disney to call.
He seems to have moved on to other things. Perhaps it’s time for fans to do the same. Life is too short.
If it ever happens, unlikely as it is, we can all be pleasantly surprised.
I wonder if there really is such a thing, or if Mr. Gilbert had just been teasing the fans for all these years.
Personally, I doubt that he’s been sitting on a single specific answer for 25 years – and that if he gets a chance to make a third game, I doubt that it is already written.
The more votes these petitions get, the more Disney realizes the Monkey Island IP has value and the less likely they are to sell it to me. This isn’t a democracy where your vote matters.
Could go the nuclear option:
Make up an incredibly controversial secret of Monkey Island (and claim it already runs thematically throughout the existing series), so that Disney (as a family-friendly company) wants nothing more to do with it and wants to dump it as soon as possible.
Unfortunately the opposite isn’t true. Otherwise we’d all happily sign the “please destroy the Monkey Island IP such that there never will be another game in that series and especially not one by Ron Gilbert”-petition
Call me pessimistic, but it seems pretty unlikely that a Kickstarter campaign could raise enough money to buy an IP from Disney, who don’t want to sell and don’t need the “peanuts” the fans could offer them.
Like, even if it would rise a million dollars, I don’t think Disney would sell at such a “low” price. Or 5 million.
There are not enough Monkey Island maniacs out there to raise money to a level where Disney would even talk to you.
5 million $ would be a starting point… just to make an adventure game cost approx. 2.5millions today, if its done professional way for all platforms.
I wouldnt be surprised if Disney would sell him 90% and kept 10% for rest of the life. Ron would got full control, but Disney would keep the small chunk, just because He can.
I can see Disney licensing it out for a few million $, but they would not sell the IP unless it’s a huuuge amount of money.
Why would they sell it for 5 million, if there is the risk/chance that Monkey Island becomes the next Pirates of the Caribbean super hit? Then Disney would loose out big time, not only by losing out on the profit they could have made if they still owned the MI IP, but also by reducing the market share of their other pirate-themed IP (POTC).
A big super-rich company doesn’t take such a risk, however small it might be in reality, to only make “peanuts” (5 million $). You only take such a risk if it’s worth it.
So while a license deal might be possible, buying the IP does not seem possible at all, unless some super-rich MI fan drops serious bucks on it and then gifts it to Ron… *
If I remember correctly, Ron has stated that he does not want to make a licensed MI3a, but would only make a new MI game if he owned the IP himself.
So, I don’t see a Kickstarter as a realistic possibility to get a RG MI3 made.
is there any chance Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos are MI fans?
