As hard as it is to say outright, it's been almost a decade South Park RPG The broken but wholeand a dozen years ago The Stick of Truth. Two beloved RPGs, both acclaimed, both commercially successful – and yet no threequel. With such success, one would be forgiven for thinking that the natural adoption was 'when', not 'if', but a perfect storm of business shifts, bandwidth issues and creative restlessness seemed to have shot down the obvious South Park RPG trilogy before it could be finished.
Despite a global context that made a third South Park RPG hard at the time, a situational one for Trey Parker and Matt Stone (creators of South Park) really still exists. A nearly billion-dollar Paramount+ deal ties them contractually to their TV commitments, the medium has evolved under them, and with the duo's aversion to the premise of revisiting an old idea, it's somewhat miraculous that fans have what they already do. Knowing that doesn't make it feel better, but it does South Park RPG shaped holes in the heart makes more sense.
Parker and Stone are completely overwhelmed
The pillars that stand between fans and another South Park However, the game is not created equal, and the first is arguably the biggest: when it comes to South Parkits creators are contractually buried. In 2021, Parker and Stone signed one of the richest deals in television history, a deal with ViacomCBS worth more than $900 million over six years, and it came with golden strings attached. The deal was renewed South Park for Comedy Central through its 30th season, committing Parker and Stone to produce 14 films for Paramount+ even before it was extended for another five years in 2025, worth $250 million a year.
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That may not be true in all cases, but in this particular case, more money really does equal more problems. Stone himself noted that the goal of two made-for-TV movies per year is where their heads are, and for two guys who supervise and participate in every shot of South Park content, which has a notoriously fast production process, that's an understandable goal. South Parks current production pipeline leaves precious little runway for a 40-60 hour RPG that would require them to be intensely involved.
South Park Studio Carousel
There are also the wrinkles of game development, which – in itself – comes with several serious complexities. Also who develops the next one South Park the game is still a big question mark, because the big three South Park games that players already have all came from different development teams:
- South Park: The Stick of Truth (2014): Developed by a team of ~50 people at Obsidian Entertainment
- South Park: The Fractured But Whole (2017): developed by Ubisoft San Francisco after Ubisoft bought the rights from a bankrupt THQ in 2013
- South Park: Snow Day! (2024): Developed by Question Games
Obsidian has since been acquired by Microsoft and has a completely different framework of projects, making one more return South Park basically impossible. Ubisoft San Francisco was specifically structured to emulate South Parks production pipeline, so that Parker and Stone's inevitable last-minute changes could be implemented late in development. But that team and that infrastructure are not in service for South Park anymore, either, which leaves Question Games, and unfortunately, there are problems in this arena as well.
South Park: Phone Destroyer and Snow Day
For context, after Broken But Whole, South Park Digital Studios greenlights two experimental titles rather than a threequel. Phone Destroyer was a mobile card game, and Snow day!a 2024 roguelike-inspired live service title. Stone explained the idea directly:
“We got off The broken but wholeand we definitely wanted to make another video game, but we wanted to do something different…more about replayability. More about being able to update characters. We always thought we wanted to do that thing where we do one thing in one show and then, like, it's in the game two weeks later, or three weeks, or whatever it is.”
The problem is that a mobile title is not a suitable option, and The snow days live-service dream never quite materialized. South Park: Snow Day! received mixed reviews, criticizing its repetitive gameplay and toned-down humor, and after two acclaimed RPG outings, critics called it a crushingly disappointing effort that left behind everything that made the previous games work.
Mixed signals from South Park's latest video game ventures
Neither of these titles were particularly well received, but they weren't exactly cash grabs either—The snow dayThe $29.99 price was deliberately chosen to manage risk, with Stone admitting that it only seemed fair when aiming to “try 3D for the first time, make it work, make all these systems work without biting off too much and failing at it.” It's reassuring, but equally confusing; certainly not the framing of a franchise that swings for the fences with every outing.
Can a South Park RPG even be made anymore?
It's also possible that RPG likes The Stick of Truth or The broken but whole may not be feasible these days. These RPGs took roughly 3–4 years each to make, and each required Parker and Stone's deep involvement throughout, from writing scripts and consulting on design to voicing almost every character. Ubisoft San Francisco developers visited South Park Studios twice a month for Broken But Wholebut Parker and Stone were less available as production continued due to the show's tight schedule.
The kicker is Broken But Wholes time struggle was when there was only one season of South Park every year. Now, Parker and Stone owe Paramount+ two feature-length specials per year in addition to full (but admittedly shorter) seasons. Everything that paints Snow day! different, not as a creative detour, but as an attempt to find a format that required less of Parker and Stone's time while still feeling relevant.
Hope For A South Park RPG remains
As bleak as it may seem, the appetite for an RPG trequel is clearly there, as well The snow days mixed reception largely stems from critics and fans measuring it against the RPGs, which in itself is the clearest signal that demand is there. But appetite alone does not green light a game, and what South Park What the RPG threequel actually needs is a developer with a true RPG pedigree willing to sidestep Parker and Stone's mayhem, and a contract window where the two have enough breathing room to commit the time. Neither of these conditions is impossible, but neither is currently met either.
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South Park: Snow Day!
- Released
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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
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Question
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South Park: The Fractured But Whole
8/10
- Released
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17 October 2017
- ESRB
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M for Adults 17+ due to blood and gore, mature humor, nudity, sexual content, strong language, drug use, violence
- Developer
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Ubisoft San Francisco
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South Park: The Stick of Truth
8/10
- Released
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March 4, 2014
- ESRB
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M for Adults 17+ due to blood and gore, drug reference, mature humor, nudity, strong language, strong sexual content, violence
