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Ron Gilbert: "Disney, please sell me my Monkey Island and Mansion Mansion IP"

jblank83

Member
Was it? I was planning to grab it on Wii U. Considering that, after Broken Age, I don't really expect Ron alone to make a game worthy of his LucasArts/Humongous titles, how's the game?

People had unreasonable expectations for the second coming of a Ron Gilbert adventure game. Instead they got a puzzle platformer with a very light story.

I enjoyed it and would easily recommend it. The U version is low resolution, 720p iirc. The PC version is full 1080 and often goes on sale for, like, 5 bucks.
 

Tempy

don't ask me for codes
He should know better than that. Disney isn't out of videogames at all. Plus if he was really serious, he wouldn't use twitter for this.
 
I'm mostly of the opinion that I value new IP more then others. That I would rather see devs do another game with the same quality as Monkey Island, rather then a sequel.

But a Monkey Island 3 by Gilbert, in the same "low-res" style as Monkey Island 2, that's tempting.
 
Companies aren't in the business of selling IP if they've got any choice. Serves very little (and short-term only) gain for the potential and future uses.

Disney especially is one of those companies where I'd genuinely be willing to cook up a pair of my sneakers and eat if they actually SOLD the IP back to either him or anyone for that matter.

Now licensing it, while having an outside party fund the whole shebang...that's another story.
 

Berordn

Member
I dunno, Disney actually has a legit claim to Monkey Island beyond just IP rights. Monkey Island was based on the Pirates of the Carribean ride at Disney World. Granted, it's an elaborate fan fiction of it that has now expanded into its own lore, but this is pretty heavily referenced in the first 2 games. I remember when Gilbert was making fun of the POTC movies for stealing his ideas and being sorta baffled by it.

Mansion Mansion would be a lot of fun though.

Curse is pretty overt with the references as well.

I'd actually kind of like to see what a Disney backed MI would be like. I have a feeling they could potentially have the power to make it work. Probably never going to live to see it, either way...
 
Those aren't entirely worthless IP, though. It's not like Grim Fandango where it's too niche and weird to do anything with - Maniac Mansion is a kooky teen mystery and Monkey Island is a very solid pirate adventure - THE pirate adventure to a certain generation. They're not worth selling.

It's strange to me that Disney isn't currently doing anything with Monkey Island, as that seems like a ripe universe to play around with. Guess it's difficult to justify, say, a Monkey Island film when Pirates of the Caribbean exists, but still.
 
Even if Disney isn't presently doing jack with them, the IPs probably have more value just existing in Disney's vault than what Gilbert is probably willing to or able to pay. It's not like Disney is hurting for cash anyway.
 
Gilbert really went from Grumpy Gamer to just Sad Developer in my eyes

I like him but man is he caught in the past

There's still an audience for the stuff he does, nothing wrong with him giving those folks what they want if it's what he enjoys. Sad seems a bit harsh. I personally am not a fan of the direction of new adventure games and I'm excited for some more old-school stuff from someone who was leading the way back then.
 
Disney are doing jackshit with Monkey Island right now, so why not. We're due another game by now, especially since Tales of... was actually really good and did the Monkey Island name justice. Still the best thing Telltale have ever put their name to.
 
Well unless Disney plan on making them into movies or something, it seems like they would never really have use for these IP's now they have dropped out of game publishing and Disney already has Pirates, so it's unlikely they would do anything with Monkey Island, so I think they should sell them back.

I never get why some companies sit on IP's they aquire and have no plan on using, instead of making money by selling them.
 
Well unless Disney plan on making them into movies or something, it seems like they would never really have use for these IP's now they have dropped out of game publishing and Disney already has Pirates, so it's unlikely they would do anything with Monkey Island, so I think they should sell them back.

I never get why some companies sit on IP's they aquire and have no plan on using, instead of making money by selling them.

You never know what you might be able to do with them in the future. Maybe adventure games make a comeback again and they can re-sell Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion ports? Maybe in 10 years video game movies become the next big Hollywood thing and they can shit out films based on these IPs. Or they can license them out and just collect a check. What Gilbert is willing or able to pay is probably peanuts to them.
 

ymgve

Member
The Cave is bad because it encourages multiple replays to see all the paths, but in between the character specific levels there are also generic levels that you have to slog through in each playthrough.

Also those levels happen to be the most boring ones in the game.
 
Disney makes a living on IP, there's no reason for them to sell something that even has an inkling of a chance of making them money in the future.

For all we know they could be planning a blockbuster Maniac Mansion Cinematic Universe.
 
Gilbert really went from Grumpy Gamer to just Sad Developer in my eyes

I like him but man is he caught in the past

Thimbleweed Park looks pretty sweet, and his point in a recent interview--that condensing the verbs in modern adventure games to a single contextual "use" gutted half of the entertainment--is a good one.
 
Disney makes a living on IP, there's no reason for them to sell something that even has an inkling of a chance of making them money in the future.

For all we know they could be planning a blockbuster Maniac Mansion Cinematic Universe.

Yup. Disney, since their acquisition of Marvel, probably knows this all too well. There was probably a time when someone at Marvel said "who cares about selling the movie rights to Spiderman and Xmen, it's not like we're ever going to use them...."
 
I truly do not believe we'll ever see Monkey Island 3a, but I'd be lying if I said my heart didn't skip a beat when I saw the headline.
 
D

Deleted member 80556

Unconfirmed Member
Disney: "Just wait until its public domain **wink**"

BREAKING NEWS: Disney destroys public domain after lobbying with 1 gazillion dollars, somehow still manages to gain record profits
 
Disney makes a living on IP, there's no reason for them to sell something that even has an inkling of a chance of making them money in the future.

For all we know they could be planning a blockbuster Maniac Mansion Cinematic Universe.

Well, at least keeping the Monkey Island IP ensures that nobody can make a movie to compete with those PotC movies :p
 

orava

Member
Monkey Island 3a

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Zubz

Banned
Yes, Power Rangers. Probably others.

Edit: they also sold Digimon.

Wait, really? I didn't know Disney owned either, and am definitely surprised they sold them. Was there any particular reason given for selling Power Rangers? Then again, I didn't know they owned the old Lucas Arts games, either; I thought they had the rights to the original games, but not the IP's.

Either way, that gives me a bit of hope that Gilbert can get the rights to those franchises back, since I don't expect anything but remasters from them. But I'm still convinced Disney wouldn't want to part with those franchises, even if they have no need for them.

BREAKING NEWS: Disney destroys public domain after lobbying with 1 gazillion dollars, somehow still manages to gain record profits

They already ruined the concept in the 90s so that public domain has gone from "70 years after the media was released" to "directly before the release of Steamboat Willie;" is there anything left for them to mess with?
 
I thought the Cave was pretty good. Good little plot and characters, played well in multiplayer, replay value since it takes a few playthroughs to see everything, good sense of humour. I mean, it's not a point and click adventure, it's a role-based puzzle platformer like Lost Vikings. But given that, I liked it.

Agree, my wife and me beat it a couple of times with different characters.
 

Mr-Joker

Banned
Wait, really? I didn't know Disney owned either, and am definitely surprised they sold them. Was there any particular reason given for selling Power Rangers? Then again, I didn't know they owned the old Lucas Arts games, either; I thought they had the rights to the original games, but not the IP's.

Because Disney had to share the profit with Bandai and Toei something that they didn't like.

Plus once they brought Marvel they didn't need Power Rangers to corner the boy's market and just sold it back to Saban.
 

rezn0r

Member
I met Ron at PAX, it was pretty awesome. His new game is looking great too.

Not that this has anything to do with this thread... so yeah Disney, please do it. I know you won't though.
 

Anarky

Banned
They already ruined the concept in the 90s so that public domain has gone from "70 years after the media was released" to "directly before the release of Steamboat Willie;" is there anything left for them to mess with?

Make it so that you can actually take stuff out of the public domain.
 
This would make me so happy. I love Monkey Island so much and still find myself humming the soundtrack without realizing it.
 
Kind of stupid of a creator to make a public post expressing your desire to buy an IP. Particularly because if there's ever a negotiation (which I doubt because dat Disney Vault), Disney would be operating from a position of strength and have all the leverage in the world vs. a sentimental guy.
 

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
If there is one company that doesn't have to sell shit it's is Disney. He might be able to license UT down the line... but I doubt they will listen to him unless he is backed by a bug publisher to make the whole deal worth Disney's time.

But you never know.....
 

inm8num2

Member
Would be nice, but probably won't happen. As much as I love the MI games (even the monkey kombat - EEK OOP CHEE!!), I'm more excited for Ron doing something new (Thimbleweed Park) than ever potentially going back to Monkey Island. I know he wanted to take the third game in a different direction, but The Curse of MI might be the pinnacle of 2D hand drawn adventure games. It and Escape from MI should really get proper digital releases.
 
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