Deathspank - Ron Gilbert Leaves Hothead

It's hard to know what this means, because we've seen so little of what was once meant to be an episodic game released with a quick turnaround. Here we are, two years later. Ron Gilbert has announced he has left Hothead, although he basically says the game is finished:

I wanted to let all the Premium Gold Level Grumpy Gamer subscribers know that I left Hothead. When I started working there two years ago, my goal was to make DeathSpank the most awesome game ever made and have it win a Nobel Prize and the early word out of Stockholm is that DeathSpank is neck-in-neck with some string theory dweeb (eleven dimensions my ass).
As DeathSpank ends the creative and production phases and start down that long and winding road of certification and testing of the XBox and PS3 and [REDACTED] versions, it's looking quite amazing and is damn funny. So, to quote my childhood hero George W. Bush: Mission Accomplished.
I will be working closely with EA and Hothead on the PR for DeathSpank as the release date of [REDACTED] draws closer.
I have also vowed to blog more and try and remember my twitter password.

More information.

Well EA got involved. So its only natural that Ron decided to bail.

Originally Posted by Twotricks
Well EA got involved. So its only natural that Ron decided to bail.

They probably asked him "ok, where's the DLC?" and he was like "DLC? what do you mean, the game is done! the story ends, happy ending, live happily ever after and all that!" and EA did their typical evil laughter "you just don't get it… do you?" and more evil laughter as they walked out.

Actually, I think he'd be more worried about the sequels; you know, Deathspank 2011, 2012, etc!!

Originally Posted by Twotricks
Well EA got involved. So its only natural that Ron decided to bail.

How about this?

Maybe Ron is self-employed and was hired for this project. His contract automatically ended when the game went gold. Sounds more probable than the prejudice you are spreading. And also explains why he will return to do some marketing - because he gets paid.

Even if he was a normal employee it sounds like a perfectly normal time to move on.

Gorath, how DARE you spoil our EA conspiracy theories!! Go stand in the corner and play Madden for the next 2 hours!!!!

Episodic game design is *so* console. Good luck with that business model!

Episodic game design is *so* console

Yeah, just like Half Life 2 and all. Damn those episodes.