Disney Closes LucasArts

[Quiotu]

I know I'm in the extreme minority, but... this makes me really nervous about SWTOR now. They're days away from the first expansion, and Disney could easily just yank the license from them, especially with LucasArts gone now.

This has been my biggest fear with Disney getting the Star Wars franchise. Sure they seem to be alright with making movies, but their games are laughably bad most of the time. This could be the end of seeing ANY good Star Wars game for a very long time, unless they offer game licenses to devs that might do them justice. We'll see.

 

[Zeraki]

Disney went all "Old Yeller" on their ass.

Wow... I'm quite speechless about this. Granted LucasArts hasn't really made any great games in a long time, but I grew up on a lot of their games.

 

[Goofguy]

This is a shame, I loved Lucasarts when I was growing up. Now, 150 people are out of jobs while two promising projects were in the works.

Here's hoping someone else swoops in to make a sequel to Grim Fandango and/or Star Wars: X-Wing.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

god dammit Disney! why would you do this?

Because LucasArts has been creatively dead since 2006? All the while losing money? Sounds like good reasons to me. Why keep a company that for the most part, puts out constant below average efforts.

 

[Ukomba]

It all depends on how and who they licence their properties to.

 

[carlh267]

"Hey, instead of developing games that will sell like hotcakes, be successful and well-loved like 1313, Battlefront 3, Jedi Knight, and Sam & Max, lets instead hire a Star Trek fan to make a Star Wars film that might be worse than Phantom with a very disheartened fanbase" - disneylogic at work.

Actually, Abrams has always been more of a Star Wars fan instead of a Trekkie. One of the main complaints of the new Trek film from fans was that it played out more like a Star Wars film, so hopefully Abrams can be trusted in the director's chair.

Anyway, this really stinks, no 1313, and now pretty much no chance of Battlefront 3.

I WOULD'VE BOUGHT AN HD BATTLEFRONT LUCASARTS, WHY DIDN'T YOU MAKE IT!!!?!?!?!?!?!?

 

[Jimmy Rushmore]

I don't get why people are upset about this really. Totally Games made the amazing Star Wars flight sims, BioWare made KoToR, all this means is that games such as these would be published by Disney rather than LucasArts - if anything, because they've fired the idiots that wouldn't comission a TIE Fighter 2 or Battlefront 3, it makes those games more likely to finally be created!

 

[King of Wei]

Wow, that is kinda sad. Guess I shouldn't hold my breath for a Gladius sequel then yeah? Not that there was any hope for on in the first place, but still. Kinda sad.

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

Wait, does this mean no Battlefront 3?

Dear deities in Heaven, say this is not the end for Battlefront 3!!!!

Battlefront 3 was canceled like years ago.

I meant the potential for it. I knew the actual game was scrapped, but there was always the possibility that it could come back. Now with LucasArts gone, I'm wondering if that potential is gone along with them, or if someone else can make the game...

 

[Sean951]

This pretty much sums up my feelings. I can't remember that last time I actually enjoyed a game created by LucasArts. Now, all those IPs are free to be distributed to other studios that don't have the stigma the LucasArts generated for itself.

 

[Ghonzor]

Well damn. 1313 was one of the few games I was looking forward to.

 

[Ukomba]

god dammit Disney! why would you do this?

Because LucasArts has been creatively dead since 2006? All the while losing money? Sounds like good reasons to me. Why keep a company that for the most part, puts out constant below average efforts.

Name recognition. Poor creativity, poor product, and bad management isn't inherent in a company, it's caused by the management team. A take over by Disney removed Lucases direction at the very top, and with some more shakeup they could have turned it back into a decent developer.

 

[CoL0sS]

RIP Lucasarts, I'll remember you as you were. Hope that all that wonderful IP doesn't go to waste

 

[Genocidicles]

Good. Maybe the licenses will go to people who know what the fuck they're doing.

 

[Vhite]

They were dead for a long time now, Disney just put the poor zombie out of misery.

 

[Webb Myers]

Let's face it. The best Star Wars games of the past decade were made by Traveller's Tales. If Disney is serious about licensing out those properties to people who know how to make games, I'm all for it.

If 1313 doesn't get acquired by another studio fairly quickly, then it probably would have just been another disappointment.

 

[Lunar Templar]

While the 150 people getting laid off is sad, that's about as far as I care here.

To me this is a 'and nothing of value was lost' situation, since the only game to come out with 'Lucas Arts' anywhere on it I liked was Metal Warriors on the SNES, and I think the only reason they're name was on it is cause one mech had a light saber

 

[Vigormortis]

The only, and I do mean only, unfortunate part of this news is that 150 or so people lost their jobs.

That's it. Seriously.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

To everyone flipping out over LucasArts being shut-down, I have just one question:

When was the last time you both purchased and enjoyed a game from LucasArts?

LucasArts has been floundering for years. They'd already lost many of their most talented people and they haven't released, or licensed, a well-received title for at least half a decade.

At this point, it's actually better for them to function solely as a licensing division rather than an internal development studio.

It remains to be seen if they license the right projects to the right studios, of course, but at least this way there's a chance we can start seeing good Star Wars and Indiana Jones games again. And, let's not forget their other IPs. (Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, etc) With them simply having to license the titles out, rather than fund and develop them, there's less risk and thus a better chance we can see those series revived.

 

[Cecilthedarkknight_234]

Good. Maybe the licenses will go to people who know what the fuck they're doing.

Oh yes we all know that it will work for the best, take ea buying up smaller game companies and just sitting on IP's. Microsoft did the same thing with rare studio, gee that seemed to have worked out well. I mean look at where all of those IP's are now in our community.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

You fucking idiots.

Oh, it's evil, sure. But not as much as it is monumentally stupid.

You have an incredibly talented group of people here, all ready and set up to make whatever you want, from a new, fresh IP, to, hell, challenging them to make a half decent tie in to star wars 7, and what do you do? You put 'em in the trash. Good job, disney. This is the worst incident of complete ignorance to a wealth of talent since you closed Blackrock.

Where have you been?

Most of LucasArts talent either left or was kicked out the door, you just need to look at some their more recent works as examples.