A new South Park video game is on the way, but fans shouldn't expect it to be the same as The Stick of Truth or The Fractured But Whole, as details about the game suggest it's going in a new direction. The early South Park games for the N64 and original PlayStation are mostly remembered for being cheap cash-ins, which were churned out quickly during the initial popularity of the show.
The South Park video game series went from being soulless adaptations to some of the best in the industry, with the release of The Stick of Truth in 2014. The Stick of Truth was a turn-based RPG with an animation style that was almost identical to the show. There have been lots of video game adaptations of cartoons over the years, but few were as accurate to the source material as The Stick of Truth. The fact that South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were heavily involved in the production was a big part of what made The Stick of Truth feel so much like the show.
The Stick of Truth was developed by Obsidian Entertainment, but it had a lot of behind-the-scenes issues, as it was originally meant to be published by THQ, but the company went bankrupt, and Ubisoft stepped in to publish the game. The Stick of Truth was followed by The Fractured but Whole, which was developed and published by Ubisoft. A new South Park is coming, but it's not going to be the same as The Stick of Truth or The Fractured but Whole.
It was recently revealed that the creators of South Park had signed a $900 million deal with ViacomCBS, which means the show will continue until at least 2027, and that the team will work on movies for the Paramount+ streaming service. A new video game was also revealed when the announcement of the deal was made. It has been revealed that the new South Park game will be 3D and it will be developed in-house, rather than given to another studio. The shift to 3D visuals means that the upcoming South Park game is going to look a lot different than The Stick of Truth, as it won't be able to emulate the style of the show as well as the past two games.
The move to developing the South Park video game in-house also means that Parker and Stone have the chance to have more control than ever before. There's a chance they could pass the reigns off to a team of their choosing, but if they have a personal stake in the game's success, then it's likely that they will want to guide the project as much as possible. Parker and Stone will be producing a lot of South Park content over the next few years, as part of their new deal with ViacomCBS, so it remains to be seen how much time they will be able to dedicate to the game. It's possible that they could change their mind and bring Ubisoft (or another publisher) on board in the future, but the next game likely will be different from The Stick of Truth/The Fractured but Whole, based on the decision to make it a 3D game.
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