As hard as it is to say clearly, it's been almost a decade since South Park RPG Broken but wholeAnd a dozen years later stick of truth. Two beloved RPGs, both critically acclaimed, both commercially successful – and yet no threequels. With such success, one would be forgiven for thinking that a natural assumption was “when,” not “if,” but a perfect storm of business changes, bandwidth issues, and creative restlessness seemed to be shooting down the clear. South Park RPG trilogy before it was discontinued.
Despite the global context that made the third South Park RPGs were hard at the time, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone (of South Park) actually remains. With a nearly billion-dollar Paramount+ deal contractually pinning them to their television obligations, the medium has grown out from under them, and with the duo's loathing for revisiting old ideas, it's miraculous what they've done with fans. It doesn't feel good to know, but it does South Park An RPG-shaped hole in the heart makes more sense.
Parker and Stone are absolutely swamped
Columns that stand between the fans and the other South Park Games are not created equal, though, and the first is undoubtedly the greatest: when it comes South ParkIts creators are contractually buried. In 2021, Parker and Stone signed one of the richest deals in TV history, a deal with ViacomCBS worth more than $900 million over six years, and it came with golden doubts. The contract was renewed South Park Through its 30th season for Comedy Central and Parker and Stone committed to produce 14 movies for Paramount+, before extending the deal for five more years through 2025 to the tune of $250 million per year.
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This may not be true in every case, but in this particular one, more money actually equals more problems. Stone himself notes that two made-for-TV movies per year is the goal in his head, and for the two guys who oversee and participate in each frame. South Park Content, which has a notoriously fast production process, is an understandable target. South Park’s current production pipeline leaves precious little runway for a 40-60-hour RPG that requires them to be deeply involved.
South Park Studios Carousel
There is also the inclination of game development, which – on its own – comes with very serious complications. Which also develops another South Park The game remains a huge question mark as the Big Three South Park Games that players already have come from different development teams:
- South Park: The Stick of Truth (2014): Developed by a ~50-person team at Obsidian Entertainment
- South Park: Broken But Whole (2017): Developed by Ubisoft San Francisco after Ubisoft purchased the rights from bankrupt THQ in 2013.
- South Park: Snow Day! (2024): Developed by Quiz Games
Obsidian has been acquired by Microsoft and has a completely different slate of projects, making a comeback. South Park Essentially impossible. Ubisoft San Francisco was specifically structured to replicate South Park's production pipeline, so that Parker and Stone's inevitable last-minute changes could be implemented late in development. But that team and that infrastructure doesn't exist in the service South Park Now, either, that leaves question games, and unfortunately, there are problems in this area as well.
South Park: Phone Destroyer and Snow Day
For reference, later Broken but whole, South Park Digital Studios greenlit two experimental titles instead of threequels. Phone Destroyer There was a mobile card game, and Snow day!2024 is a roguelike-inspired live service title. Stone explained the thinking straightforwardly:
“We left Broken but wholeAnd we definitely wanted to do another video game, but we wanted to do something different… more about replayability. More about being able to update characters. We always think we want to do that thing where we work on a program and then, like, it's two weeks into the game, or three weeks, or whatever.”
The problem is that the mobile title is not a suitable option, and snow dayThe direct-service dream never came true. South Park: Snow Day! It received mixed reviews, leveling criticism at its repetitive gameplay and toned-down humor, and after two acclaimed RPG outings, critics called it a crumblingly disappointing effort that left behind everything that made the previous games work.
Mixed signals from South Park's latest video game ventures
None of these titles were particularly well received, but they weren't exactly cashgrabs, either—snow dayThe $29.99 price point was deliberately chosen to manage risk, with Stone admitting that it only seemed reasonable for the purpose of “trying 3D for the first time, letting it work, making all those systems work without a lot of cutting and failure”. That's reassuring, but equally confusing; Certainly not the framing of a franchise that swings for the fences with each outing.
Can South Park RPG still be made?
It is also possible that likes RPGs stick of truth or Broken but whole It may not be possible these days. Each of those RPGs took about 3-4 years to make, and each required Parker and Stone's deep involvement, from writing the script and consulting on design to voicing nearly every character. Ubisoft San Francisco developers visited South Park Studio twice a month Broken but wholeBut Parker and Stone were less available as production continued due to the show's tight schedule.
The kicker is that Broken but wholeThere was a season when the time was struggle South Park per year. Now, Parker and Stone owe Paramount+ two feature-length specials per year on top of full (albeit short) seasons. All those colors Snow day! Differently, not as a creative detour, but as an attempt to find a format that requires less of Parker and Stone's time and still feels current.
There is still hope for South Park RPG
As bleak as all this may sound, the appetite for an RPG threequel is clearly there, as is snow day’s mixed reception stems largely from critics and fans measuring it against RPGs, which in itself is a clear sign that demand exists. But hunger alone doesn't green light the game, and what a South Park An RPG threequel really needs a developer with real RPG pedigree willing to work around Parker and Stone's chaos, and a contract window where the two have enough breathing room to buy time. Neither of those conditions is impossible, but neither is currently met.
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South Park: Snow Day!
- issued
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March 26, 2024
- ESRB
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M for Mature 17+ due to blood, strong language, violence, mature humor
- developer(s)
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question
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South Park: Broken But Whole
8/10
- issued
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October 17, 2017
- ESRB
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M for Mature 17+ due to blood and gore, mature humor, nudity, sexual content, strong language, drug use, violence
- developer(s)
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Ubisoft San Francisco
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South Park: The Stick of Truth
8/10
- issued
-
4 March 2014
- ESRB
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M Mature 17+ Contains blood and gore, drug references, mature humor, nudity, strong language, strong sexual content, violence
