LucasArts no more....

[CrimsonStrife]

Source: http://kotaku.com

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 andStar Wars 1313--were cancelled.

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. Today, it's official: the longrunning studio is no more.

 

 

[spior]

wat...why...huh....WAT

[CrimsonStrife]

Tis true.

[spior]

But why ;_;

[CrimsonStrife]

No one seems sure just yet.  They only just made the announcement early this morning.

[spior]

why am I still not allowed to post images

Edited April 3, 2013 by CrimsonStrife
fixed it O_o, but, dunno.

[MagSul]

Please tell me that this is an April Fool's joke that people've just been late finding out about.

[CrimsonStrife]

Please tell me that this is an April Fool's joke that people've just been late finding out about.

Sorry, no such luck.  The announcement was made official earlier today.  Although the rest of the industry kind of saw it coming back around the time of the purchase.

[MagSul]

[CrimsonStrife]

Here is the actual statement from Disney.

"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."

 

Basically...while 1313 and First Assault have been cancelled, it sounds like they may license the property to other companies.  So while we may see Star Wars games in the future, they will be from 3rd parties.

 

 

EDIT

 

Update:

 

according to this article http://www.insidegamingdaily.com/2013/04/03/disney-shutting-down-lucasarts-future-of-game-properties-uncertain/

 

While yes the company is gone, and will be licensing the development to 3rd parties....

The fates of 1313 and First Assault are, for now at least, a bit murky.  It is possible the games could still come out, but with development being finished by other companies.  However, personally I think this would kill the production value of both games and/or require the developing company to start all over.

Edited April 3, 2013 by CrimsonStrife
update

[Circa]

 

Hopefully this will turn out to be a good thing eventually. I thought Lucasarts licensed games to 3rd party companies anyways? (i.e. Raven, Pandemic, Bioware, etc.)

[CrimsonStrife]

 

Hopefully this will turn out to be a good thing eventually. I thought Lucasarts licensed games to 3rd party companies anyways? (i.e. Raven, Pandemic, Bioware, etc.)

Not recently, I think their general consensus was to move to internal development.  But even when they did outsource, I am not entirely sure that they were not also working on the project themselves, more like partnerships, or in some cases, partially owned the studio (I think this was the case with Raven, and at one point with Bioware).  In this future scenario, the entire development process would be done by a 3rd party.

[mrwonko]

Well shit.

[afi]

Were not most SW-games made by third-party developers anyway?

[therfiles]

 

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened."

[CrimsonStrife]

Were not most SW-games made by third-party developers anyway?

 

 

Not recently, I think their general consensus was to move to internal development.  But even when they did outsource, I am not entirely sure that they were not also working on the project themselves, more like partnerships, or in some cases, partially owned the studio (I think this was the case with Raven, and at one point with Bioware).  In this future scenario, the entire development process would be done by a 3rd party.

[Omicron]

http://nooooooooooooooo.com/

[eezstreet]

Are you guys mad? This is great news!

They're opening up more opportunities for licensing, and let's get for real...LA of late wasn't exactly fantastic anyway. This makes a Raven-made JK3/4 more and more of a reality.

[CrimsonStrife]

Not to mention all the IP that wasn't Star Wars that everyone seems to forget...Monkey Island anyone?

[eezstreet]

also the SP SDK

[CrimsonStrife]

also the SP SDK

While not impossible, realistically, I wouldn't hold my breath.  Hell the guys at Disney probably don't even realize the modding community exists.

[IronSkull86]

heres a question. with the shutting down of lucasarts... will the JK2/JKA servers be shut down soon as well?

[CrimsonStrife]

heres a question. with the shutting down of lucasarts... will the JK2/JKA servers be shut down soon as well?

While I am sure at some point LA was hosting some of the servers, pretty much all the servers nowadays are privately hosted by people who also play the game.

[Tempust85]

Well this explains no email for me from the PR @ LucasArts. There was no PR lmao.

 

Their latest games did suck some, but I am sad to see "LucasArts" go though.

[eezstreet]

While not impossible, realistically, I wouldn't hold my breath.  Hell the guys at Disney probably don't even realize the modding community exists.

yea about that..

 

http://jkhub.org/topic/1941-jedi-academy-and-jedi-outcast-source-code-released/?do=findComment&comment=22915