Disney Closes LucasArts

[Quaxar]

Cue the shitstorm.

LucasArts has made some of my most favourite games, the KotOR, Battlefront and Jedi Knight series respectively, and been part of the greatest MMO concerning personal and overall story and environmental design ever, Old Republic.
It appears my dislike of Disney's Star Wars acquisition continues to rise steadily.

 

[Darth_Payn]

http://nooooooooooooooo.com

That is the most apt reaction to the bad news here. I also want to say WWWHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY???!!!

 

[Blachman201_v1legacy]

I just hope that the prospect for a re-released Monkey Island 3 in HD isn't completely dead in the water with this development. It was literally the only thing I still wanted from LucasArts in these last couple of years. And I sincerely hope that TellTale will be able to make a full acquisition of the rights to Monkey Island. I really don't want Disney allowing that series to gather dust following its recent revival.

But otherwise: Damn! I hope Disney is aware that stuff like this doesn't exactly inspire goodwill or confidence in them from the fanbase.

 

[Eiv]

Idiots


That is all.

/Levi

 

[juyunseen]

Doulbe Fine! Can you hear me?!

Please, grab the IP rights to Grim Fandango! You know you want to. Now's your chance!

Fixed it for you.

OT: It's sad to see them go, but really if this means I'll get my Battlefront 3, I can't be unhappy.

 

[fix-the-spade]

They certainly want to make their money back ASAP, rather than play the long game. Can't say it fills me with confidence...

I think it's case of Disney having a plan laid out before they even started negotiations. Given where they've gone with Marvel I'm giving Disney the benefit of the doubt for now.

I'm not sure that you can call closing a studio that hasn't delivered a hit of it's own in well over decade as ruthless. They've had their name alongside Bioware, Red 5, Totally Games and whole bunch of others, but if that's all they're good for I can't see Disney even considering paying to prop them up.

 

[Milanezi]

yeah, Lucasarts wasn't really doing much over the past decade. Still, I imagine people are going to FLIP.

Amen to that. But I can't help but feel sorta sad since Monkey Island was born there...

 

[VladG]

Ehh... Nothing they've made since KotOR has been any good so I don't really lament the loss of the studio. I imagine most of the people that have been behind their awesome previous games have left a long time ago. Certainly THAT LucasArts hasn't existed in a long time.


1313 being cancelled though... that's odd. I can only hope it was a case similar to Colonial Marine, and it just LOOKED good, but in fact it was a piece of shit (not entirely unreasonable, look at The Force Unleashed) and not just stupid corporate decision-making.

Though sadly it was most likely the latter.

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

Wait, does this mean no Battlefront 3?

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

 

[Doclector]

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.

 

[Mumorpuger]

Beat you to it by 8 minutes Andy. Don't worry, we can always go back and edit it to look like you posed first...

Anyways, as I said in t'other post, I wonder how this will affect TOR. I know EA were financing that, but I imagine as a Star Wars game, Lucasarts had a lot of control over it. Will Disney now be stepping in to fill that role?

I have to say, Disney do seem to have turned rather ruthless following the Lucasfilm purchase. The ink wasn't even dry, and they'd already announced a new trilogy of films. Then they announced that they were making additional spin-off films. And now they're shutting down the gaming division in order to minimise losses.

They certainly want to make their money back ASAP, rather than play the long game. Can't say it fills me with confidence...

To be fair, Andy actually did an article-style write up, vs. just posting the link to the story and making a comment.

OT: Can Tim Schaefer have Monkey Island back? Please?

 

[FamoFunk]

I hate hearing news about people losing their jobs. Sad. I really love Monkey Island, too

 

[Cameron Everett]

Ehh... Nothing they've made since KotOR has been any good so I don't really lament the loss of the studio. I imagine most of the people that have been behind their awesome previous games have left a long time ago.

They didn't make KotOR that was Bioware, they just nodded and said "go forth and make us money". But I'm sure Disney will still control the IP's until the either decide to sell them or whore them out to game studio x.

 

[CrazyBlaze]

My first reaction: NONONNONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO

After thinking about it: Well maybe its for the best. They haven't been at the top in a long time and I don't think they will be.

Now I am disappointed at 1313 being cancelled. It looked interesting. LucasArts wasn't the ones making that new first person shooter for the xbox though right? The one that would have determined if Battlefront 3 would be made.

 

[JediMB]

Telltale Games! Can you hear me?!

Please, grab the IP rights to Grim Fandango! You know you want to. Now's your chance!

Double Fine should get Grim Fandango.

Either one could get Monkey Island as far as I'm concerned, although I suppose Telltale Games have the better resources.

 

[MrPeanut]

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.

 

[templar1138a]

Yeah, not really surprised. All Lucasarts has been doing in the past decade is milking Star Wars for all it's worth (not that I didn't like most of the games to come out of that).

What surprises me (at first, anyway) is how upset all y'all seem to be about this. I've lost track of how much bile you guys have been throwing at Lucasarts in the past decade, and now you're upset with Disney because they shut it down. Likely in response to the bile. Then I say, "Oh wait, this is the fanbase that refuses to get over the prequels. They have to throw bile at SOMETHING."

Besides, with most of you preparing to hate the sequels, Star Wars is going to get a new wave of publicity that is doubtless going to increase demand for more video games from the franchise (because despite your loud hatred, you keep throwing money at it). Those games will be made; they'll just have different company logos than you're used to.

But no. None of those games will be Battlefront 3. That was cancelled in 2008. I'd tell you to get over it, but again, the prequels.

 

[Zombie_Moogle]

Telltale Games! Can you hear me?!

Please, grab the IP rights to Grim Fandango! You know you want to. Now's your chance!

Double Fine should get Grim Fandango.

Either one could get Monkey Island as far as I'm concerned, although I suppose Telltale Games have the better resources.

Perhaps it's time for a Telltale/Double Fine team-up?

[gasp] the fortuneteller was right...