Disney shuts down LucasArts, cancels all projects

[Syt]

http://kotaku.com/disney-shuts-down-lucasarts-468473749

Disney Shuts Down LucasArts, Cancels Star Wars 1313 And Star Wars: First Assault

Disney has laid off the staff of LucasArts and cancelled all current projects.

Staff were informed of the shutdown this morning, according to a reliable Kotaku source. Some 150 people were laid off, and both of the studio's current projects—Star Wars: First Assault and Star Wars 1313—were cancelled. Disney will still use the LucasArts name to license games, but the studio is no more.

Hypothetically, the company could license First Assault or 1313 to a different developer, but those would be different games entirely.

"After evaluating our position in the games market, we've decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company's risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games," LucasArts parent company LucasFilm said in a statement. "As a result of this change, we've had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles."

This comes after weeks and months of rumors involving the studio, which was acquired by Disney last fall. In September, LucasArts put a freeze on all hiring and product announcements, which many staff saw as the beginning of the end. In February, we started hearing rumors that the studio might be shuttered. Today, it's official: the iconic development house is gone.

The company was acquired as part of a mega-merger last year where Disney acquired LucasFilm and its sibling company from Lucas. Maniac Mansion, one of LucasArts' first self-published titles, introduced the "SCUMM" game engine driving several well known point-and-click adventure titles the company published throughout the 1990s. The Secret of Monkey Island, created by Ron Gilbert and co-written by Double Fine's Tim Schafer, is one of the publisher's best-known graphical adventures using the engine.

The publisher's apogee was certainly in the 1990s, when a wave of Star Wars-themed titles for the PC—such as Dark Forces, X-Wing and Rebel Assault—were supplemented by games like the strategy title Afterlife, the Sam & Max series, and Schafer's Full Throttle.

In the 2000s, the company became more reliant on its Star Wars products and licenses sold to other developers as new efforts like Fracture failed to take hold. The decade's most notable successes—Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars: Battlefront—were both externally developed, by BioWare and Pandemic Studios, respectively. LucasArts' last title to see mainstream success was 2008's Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. A 2010 sequel didn't live up to expectations. The last game published by LucasArts was Kinect Star Wars for the Xbox 360 last year, a game widely panned by critics.

THE FUCK?

I mean, 1313 looked like a scripted cover shooter, but it could have been fun. And First Assault was considered a precursor to a possible Battlefront 3.

[Tamas]

project shutdown out of the blue? That must feel horrible for them.




So, Lucasarts is gone? WTF

[Martinus]

Are you sure this is not April Fools?

[Tamas]

Are you sure this is not April Fools?

its 3rd of April already here, not sure about Poland though.

[Syt]

So, how many companies from the C64 times are still around. EA, Activision, . . . ?

[Valmy]

Disney's evil truly knows no bounds.  First they ruined the Muppets, now this.

[Viking]

Disney's evil truly knows no bounds.  First they ruined the Muppets, now this.

I'm pretty sure ruining star wars right now might be an improvement....

[Neil]

Makes sense.  When it comes to churning out garbage with 'Star Wars' written on it, it's more effective to outsource.

Lucasarts was once a proud studio, but their best days were behind them and you knew that Disney was going to drop the hammer on them.

[FunkMonk]

Neil is right. The glory days of LucasArts are long gone. When the best game you've made in years is The Force Unleashed, perhaps it's best to put the studio out of its misery.

[MadImmortalMan]

Neil is right. The glory days of LucasArts are long gone. When the best game you've made in years is The Force Unleashed, perhaps it's best to put the studio out of its misery.

Oh god it's so bad.

[Neil]

Besides, if you think about it Disney has the right of it.  You get better Star Wars games by licensing.  What's the best Star Wars game made after the release of the last X-Wing Alliance?  KOTOR, and it's not even close.

[Caliga]

I approve.  It is Disney's responsibility to render damnatio memoriae unto George Lucas.

[Razgovory]

Neil is right. The glory days of LucasArts are long gone. When the best game you've made in years is The Force Unleashed, perhaps it's best to put the studio out of its misery.

Yep.  Many of the best games that were produced by Lucasarts weren't even Star Wars games.  Games like Maniac Mansion, Secret weapons of the Luftwaffe, and Outlaws.  They haven't released new IPs for a long time.

[DontSayBanana]

Oh god it's so bad.

Three words: Kinect Star Wars.  'Nuff said.

It's been a long time since they churned out decent adventure-ish flight sims like TIE Fighter or even Rogue Squadron.  Even longer since they kept Sierra on its toes with point-and-click adventures.

Come to think of it, the most fun I've had in Star Wars gaming in the last 5-7 years WAS outsourced: LEGO Star Wars.

[Syt]

Well, I hope this move means that the back catalog will pop up on GOG. Also, I want an updated version of Pod Racer. That game was silly fun.