'It Was Done Without My Knowledge,' Ron Gilbert on Unexpected Monkey Island Crossover
Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert has revealed that the upcoming Sea of Thieves crossover was conceived and developed without his involvement.
Ron Gilbert, creator of Monkey Island, last year resurrected the franchise with the project titled Return to Monkey Island. It would seem, then, that the developer was also involved in the crossover announced during the Xbox Games Showcase 2023 - Sea of Thieves: The Legend of Monkey Island. Nothing could be further from the truth.
One Mastodon user decided to ask Gilbert what his contribution to the upcoming DLC was. As it turns out, the creator had no idea about the work on the crossover.
"It was all done without my knowledge or input," he replied.
It is worth noting that Microsoft did not have to inform the developer of its plans, since the license for the brand is owned by Lucasfilm Games. Nevertheless, given Gilbert's track record, notifying him about work on the DLC would have been welcome.
Interestingly, a completely different version of events was presented to Eurogamer by a spokesman for Terrible Toybox (responsible for Return to Monkey Island). From the message given to the editor, we learn that Gilbert was informed by Disney (owner of Lucasfilm Games) about the crossover. However, the project was already at an advanced stage of development and the developer was unable to take an active part in the process.
"Disney did give him a heads-up on the project as a courtesy, but the game was well into development at that point and he wasn't given the opportunity to be meaningfully involved. (...) He [Gilbert - ed. note] cares deeply about Monkey Island and wishes the team at Rare well with the project."
Premiere of Sea of Thieves: The Legend of Monkey Island will take place on July 20. The DLC will be available on both PC (Steam) and Xbox consoles (Xbox Game Pass).. You can watch the trailer for the project below.
