Thimbleweed Park 2 is being paid for by a wealthy fan of the original game rather than by a publisher, series creator Ron Gilbert has said. Gilbert described the arrangement in an interview with Bloomberg, reported by PC Gamer, explaining that the recently announced sequel came together only after a friend put him in touch with someone willing to fund it outright.
Why not a publisher
Gilbert said he did not want to work with a conventional publisher because his past experiences with them had not been entirely positive. His objection, as he framed it, is less about publishers recouping their investment than about what happens afterwards.
I don't mind the publisher earning back their money. 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.
When Gilbert first raised the idea of a sequel, publishers were interested but their terms were not acceptable to him, according to the interview. He also did not want to run another Kickstarter, having crowdfunded the original Thimbleweed Park. With both of the obvious routes closed off, the project stalled.
The benefactor
The unlock came from a friend who told Gilbert he knew a wealthy outsider who was a fan of adventure games in general and Thimbleweed Park in particular. Gilbert said he was dubious, but eventually made contact, and the purported benefactor turned out to be genuine.
Gilbert then assembled what he called a very realistic budget for Thimbleweed Park 2, one larger than the cost of making the original. The arrangement is unusual enough that Gilbert himself treated it as implausible at first, and it is the reason a sequel that had no viable funding route is now in production. Neither Gilbert nor PC Gamer's report names the financier, and no release window for Thimbleweed Park 2 has been given.
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