Disney Kills Star Wars 1313, Lays Off LucasArts Staff

[JoeZhang]

That noise you just heard was the other shoe dropping: Lucasfilm said today that it will cease internal game development at LucasArts, following the company’s acquisition by Disney in November.

“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,” read a statement issued by Lucasfilm. “As a result of this change, we’ve had layoffs across the organization.”

Reached for comment by Wired, a representative said that internal development on announced games, like the next-gen shooter Star Wars 1313, had been ceased but that the company was evaluating its options as regards having those games completed by an outside developer. However, Kotaku quoted an anonymous source inside the company that said such options had already been explored, and Disney found no takers. So it’s looking quite unlikely that 1313 will ever come out.

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2013/04/lucasarts-disney/


The end of an era I guess.

 

[Set Harth]

The live action series is gonna rock.

 

[C.E. Evans]

LucasArts is going from a video game developer to a publisher like they did with the KOTOR games.

Still sucks for people to be laid off though...

 

[RoJoHen]

Still sucks for people to be laid off though...

Business is business, unfortunately.

 

[Shatinator]

Still sucks for people to be laid off though...

Business is business, unfortunately.

That is like one of the statements that attempt to say something but actually don't, as is "it is what it it is"
Okay, what is it? It is it, what it is, obviously?! Right?

So business is business, we'll what is business, just say what business is--instead the substitute. Right!

 

[Sephiroth]

R.I.P. Guybrush Threepwood
1990-2013
He could hold his breath for 10 minutes.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

"It is what it is" actually says everything.

 

[Ryan8bit]

R.I.P. Guybrush Threepwood
1990-2013
He could hold his breath for 10 minutes.

Well, Telltale games was in charge of the latest Monkey Island, much like lots of other LucasArts titles that were licensed out to other more capable companies.

 

[Sephiroth]

R.I.P. Guybrush Threepwood
1990-2013
He could hold his breath for 10 minutes.

Well, Telltale games was in charge of the latest Monkey Island, much like lots of other LucasArts titles that were licensed out to other more capable companies.

TellTale did good with their Monkey Island game, I wouldn't mind Disney licensing out a few more "seasons" to them, but the Special Editions show that LA isn't, or should I say wasn't, any less capable. I'm still hoping for CMI and EMI special editions.

 

[tighr]

Still sucks for people to be laid off though...

Business is business, unfortunately.

That is like one of the statements that attempt to say something but actually don't, as is "it is what it it is"
Okay, what is it? It is it, what it is, obviously?! Right?

So business is business, we'll what is business, just say what business is--instead the substitute. Right!

The business is that LucasArts was projecting less revenue from their current projects than the cost of producing them in the first place. (And that's gross revenue, not even profits).

Thusly, business is, in fact, business.

Maybe they should have made better games?

 

[Klaus]

Sad to see 'em go... blowing up the Death Star in the original X-Wing game is still my proudest gaming achievement.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Ugh, hate to hear this. Bad news for the SF economy.

But sadly I have to agree: it's a sensible business move.

 

[Takeru]

LucasArts deserves it for sucking! How many good games did they create in the last years, two or three? The great LucasArts most people remember existed in the 90s and early 00s, since then the best games released by them were created by other studios. It's no big loss.

 

[tighr]

The last LucasArts game I played was Episode I: Racer. I had it on the PC, and I loved it.

 

[Mister Fandango]

"It is what it is" actually says everything.

No.

 

[Set Harth]

The last LucasArts game I played was Episode I: Racer. I had it on the PC, and I loved it.

That was a great game. I had it on N64. It was great to see the Malastare racing alluded to in TPM, although they were among the easier tracks and not really "very dangerous". And you have to have the Boonta more or less memorized or Sebulba crashes through you and goes on to win. I could not do the Abyss on Ord Ibanna.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

Most of my favorite PC games came from LucasArts, including TIE Fighter, Afterlife, Star Wars: Rebellion, etc. Then again, those were the 90s.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

LucasArts' heyday was over a long time ago, unfortunately.

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

Awww...I was looking forward to playing Uncharted 1313. It looked sweet! Oh, well. Thanks for the long run of awesome games I played throughout my teens and twenties, LA. Some of the best ever.