We recently talked to adventure game luminary Ron Gilbert about Disney's acquisition of LucasArts, and how he felt about the rights to Monkey Island changing hands. He wasn't optimistic that he'd ever retrieve the series he created, saying that Disney seems like a company which "hoards IP." In an interview posted by Eurogamer today, however, Gilbert confirmed that he does plan to contact Disney. If he's lucky, they'll just read the interview and save him the phone call.
"I would love to contact [Disney] at some point," said Gilbert. "I haven't done anything yet but I definitely want to."
After being pressed on the subject, Gilbert added, "At some point I will," and said that getting the rights to Monkey Island would allow him to "really make the game I want to make."
So, we'll see. Will Disney abandon the franchise? Will it sell it? Will Guybrush ever have a chance to reference the situation with a witty comment? Only time and probably a lot of money will tell.
Less relevant, but amusing, is how Gilbert feels about Pirates of the Caribbean. "Pirates of the Caribbean is a rip-off of Monkey Island which is a rip-off of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride," he said. "So it's hard for me to get too mad at Disney when I ripped them off originally."
I love the admission, just as long as no one at Disney utters the word "cross-over." And Monkey Island or no Monkey Island, Gilbert's been busy: he's currently at Double Fine finishing up The Cave , a side-scrolling puzzle game releasing sometime next month.
