With Disney effectively out of the video game business, designer Ron Gilbert has offered to buy back the rights to Monkey Island...
The cancellation of Disney Infinity meant not only the end of what was once hoped to be a multi-million dollar franchise, but also the end of Disney's involvement in the games industry as a whole.
"After a thorough evaluation," Disney Interactive boss James Pitaro said earlier this month, "we have modified our approach to console gaming and will transition exclusively to a licensing model."
This means that Disney will be farming out its big-name properties to external companies from now on, just as it has with Star Warsand EA. What it also means is that older, smaller licenses held by Disney could wind up sitting on a shelf—which is where designer Ron Gilbert comes in.
During his time at LucasArts in the 80s and 90s, Gilbert created some of the most popular adventure games of that era, including The Secret of Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion. Taking to Twitter, Gilbert has expressed his desire to buy back the IP for those classic games:
Dear @Disney, now that you're not making games, please sell me my Monkey Island and Mansion Mansion IP. I'll pay real actual money for them.
— Ron Gilbert (@grumpygamer) May 23, 2016
Admittedly, it's far from a formal offer, but with Gilbert's tweet gaining considerable attention already, it may just pave the way for a more serious deal further down the line. Until then, there's always Thimbleweed Parkto look forward to, which is Gilbert's latest adventure game in the Monkey Island mold.
Oh, and if you noticed the glaring typo in Gilbert's tweet to Disney, so did he—"I'm incapable of proof reading my own tweets," he later wrote, "that's part of the charm in following me."
