Disney closes LucasArts, Star Wars 1313 and Star Wars: First Assault cancelled
Just a little over 150 days after acquiring LucasFilm, Disney has shut down the gaming division LucasArts and cancelled all current projects. Staff at LucasArts were informed of the shutdown this morning where 150 staff members were laid off.
This however, does not mean that there won’t be anymore Star Wars game in the future. Disney will continue to license out their intellectual properties but will cease all internal development projects such as Star Wars 1313 and Star Wars: First Assault. It is unknown at this point if either of these games will picked up by other developers but the future of these two games seem bleak.
[quote]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. 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.[/quote]
LucasArts have been struggling with game development for quite some time, games such as 2008’s Star Wars: Force Unleashed, 2010’s Star Wars: Forced Unleashed 2 and the more recent Kinect Star Wars in 2012 all did not do well. But this does not make this piece of news any less disheartening. A significant part of my childhood, of our childhood, will go down with LucasArts.
To everyone who played a part LucasArts and the 150 people who were laid off today, in bringing us games which defined a generation, I thank you.
[signoff1]
Michael Foy
April 5, 2013 @ 12:36 pm
Disney is full of shit…
bleachorange
April 8, 2013 @ 2:28 pm
yeah…I was looking forward to 1313. I hope it gets shopped out and finished.