Thimbleweed Park 2 is happening because Ron Gilbert's friend knows a rich guy who's a big fan of the original and wanted more
Overview & Key Takeaways
For once, the "wealthy benefactor on the internet wants to give you money" story is actually real.
Have you ever said to yourself, 'If I was rich I'd get Looking Glass Studios back together and have them make a proper goddamn Thief sequel!'? Or, you know, whatever game gets you really wound up about such things. It's a pleasant fantasy, but not something that ever actually happens—except, apparently, in the case of the recently announced Thimbleweed Park 2.
In a new interview with Bloomberg, Thimbleweed Park creator Ron Gilbert said he didn't want to work with a conventional publisher because his experiences with them haven't been entirely great.
"I don’t mind the publisher earning back their money," Gilbert said. "It’s just that once they have earned back their money and become whole, they still want the majority of the money. Or there are really goofy terms, like you don’t make anything unless it’s a major hit. I always felt that was unfair."
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That was the case when Gilbert first expressed interest in doing Thimbleweed Park 2: Publishers were interested but their terms weren't acceptable. Gilbert also didn't want to do another Kickstarter. That left the process kind of stuck, until a friend told Gilbert he knew "a wealthy outsider" who was a big fan of adventure games, and Thimbleweed Park in particular.
Gilbert was dubious, but eventually made contact with the purported wealthy benefactor, who turned out to be an actual wealthy benefactor. Gilbert put together a "very realistic" budget for Thimbleweed Park 2, higher than the cost of the original (which the report says cost just over $1 million), and the as-yet-anonymous rich guy threw the thumbs up on what Gilbert said is a far better deal than he'd get from any publisher: "This deal is a lot more fair in that he gets whole very quickly, and then it’s a reasonable split."
The audience for point-and-click adventures is relatively niche, but those who like them—as this story shows—tend to like them a lot. Adventures also tend to have a longer tail than some genres, at least in part because they're not dependent on cutting edge technology: Many of the best of them, Thimbleweed Park included, look (and, frankly, play) like they were made 20 or 30 years ago.
And Thimbleweed Park is still out there earning, too. "We’re almost 10 years from release and that game still sells," Gilbert said. "That tells me that there is an audience for that game and games like this."
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Thimbleweed Park 2, neither a sequel nor a prequel, is currently expected to be out in early 2028.
