The Secret of Monkey Island

One Way To Fund Your Game? Find A Rich Guy

The video game industry faces significant challenges regarding project financing, particularly for developers seeking to avoid the restrictive terms often imposed by traditional publishers.

• Ron Gilbert’s studio, Terrible Toybox, secured funding for 'Thimbleweed Park 2' from a private wealthy investor after rejecting traditional publisher terms that required unfavorable revenue splits and performance-based payouts.
• The new project is budgeted for a two-year development cycle with a target release in early 2028, aiming to pay staff competitive market rates rather than the discounted wages used during the development of the first game.
• The original 'Thimbleweed Park' (2017) was financed via a 2014 Kickstarter campaign that raised over $620,000 and eventually sold more than 300,000 copies.