Disney Closes LucasArts game studio, all games cancelled

Alien Soup

Alien Soup

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Disney, after acquiring the LucasArts game studio as part of the $4 Billion USD purchase of the LucasFilm properties, is now closing it down. All current projects have been cancelled, including Star Wars: First Assault and Star Wars 1313, with about 150 employees being laid off.

Going forward Disney will instead license properties, including Star Wars, other other game developers.

Here is the official statement from Disney:
Disney said:
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.
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Star Wars 1313 was to take place between the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy and act as a sort of bridge between the two. 1313 in the title refers to level 1313 of the Coruscant and is supposed to be the dark grim underworld of the Star Wars universe. Below is a preview of the game that now may never be released.

 
You do have to admit, though, that everything that's come out of those studios over the past 5 years or so have really stunk to high heaven.

Disney can now contract a decent developer and get some quality going for the franchise. Hopefully the developer won't have the initials of E and A.
 
EA has been in the hot seat lately with customers over the fiasco of the new SimCity release and their moves to make their games require a constant internet connection chock full of DRM.

Disney, of course, decided that EA would be the perfect company Star Wars games. :censored:

The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) and Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA) today announced a new multi-year exclusive licensing agreement to develop and publish globally new games based on Star Wars characters and storylines.

Under the agreement, EA will develop and publish new Star Wars titles for a core gaming audience, spanning all interactive platforms and the most popular game genres, while Disney will retain certain rights to develop new titles within the mobile, social, tablet and online game categories.

“This agreement demonstrates our commitment to creating quality game experiences that drive the popularity of the Star Wars franchise for years to come,” said John Pleasants, Co-President of Disney Interactive. “Collaborating with one of the world’s premier game developers will allow us to bring an amazing portfolio of new Star Wars titles to our fans around the world.”

“Every developer dreams of creating games for the Star Wars universe,” said EA Labels President Frank Gibeau. “Three of our top studios will fulfill that dream, crafting epic adventures for Star Wars fans. DICE and Visceral will produce new games, joining the BioWare team which continues to develop for the Star Wars franchise. The new experiences we create may borrow from films, but the games will be entirely original with all new stories and gameplay.”

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
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I support any and all BioWare involvement in making Star Wars games.
Honestly though, the only SW games I've enjoyed in my life have been Galactic Battlegrounds, and KOTOT1 + 2.
Lucas Arts was however responsible for some of the greatest games in the history of everything. This agreement seems to only be a SW one, so hopefully they're not going to bastardise Monkey Island or Grim Fandango or anything like that.
 
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