Ron Gilbert hints at the complexities of a potential new Monkey Island game.

Ron Gilbert, the mastermind behind the iconic Monkey Island adventure series, recently shared that creating a new installment would be “really complicated” due to the numerous companies that would need to be involved. This complexity is part of the reason he opted to bypass the traditional game-publishing route for his upcoming project, Thimbleweed Park 2.

In a conversation following the announcement of Thimbleweed Park 2, Gilbert was asked about the chances of seeing another Monkey Island game. The last entry in the series, Return to Monkey Island, was released in 2022, with significant involvement from Disney, who holds the rights to the franchise. Gilbert noted that the necessity of involving multiple companies makes reviving the series a challenging endeavor.

“Now there’s Disney involved, and it’s not that they were bad — they were a good partner, creatively. But Disney, just because of the way they are, they like to work with large companies,” Gilbert explained. “They would not work with me directly, which means there would have to be somebody else like a Devolver in the mix for the whole thing. It just gets really complicated.”

Since the release of Return to Monkey Island, Disney has continued collaborating with external developers for games based on its properties, with Kingdom Hearts 4 receiving notable attention at this year’s D23. From Gilbert’s viewpoint, Disney seems more inclined to partner with larger corporations like Square Enix rather than his indie studio, Terrible Toybox.

Additionally, Gilbert expressed dissatisfaction with the unfavorable publishing deals currently available to indie developers. This led him to seek funding from a still-unnamed wealthy investor for Thimbleweed Park 2, rather than signing with a major publisher. “This deal is a lot more fair in that he gets whole very quickly, and then it’s a reasonable split,” Gilbert shared.

While a new Monkey Island game doesn’t appear to be on the horizon, Thimbleweed Park 2 is set to launch on Windows PC in early 2028. Meanwhile, Return to Monkey Island remains accessible on various platforms, including Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X.

It’s a nostalgic journey that fans will surely appreciate.