Disney Closes LucasArts

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Man, there was a point early on when I only cared about Star Wars videogames - Jedi Outcast, Rogue Leader, Bounty Hunter, etc. Those really were the glory days (for me anyway, I wasn't around for the adventure game stuff), but alas.

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.

Yeah but there was that stuff about a shooter called First Assault, and if that did well they'd go ahead with Battlefront 3 (I don't understand the logic there myself, I thought they should've just called it Battlefront 3 since the gameplay was the same) but that's scrapped along with 1313 apparently.

From what I understand, First Assault was supposed to be a smaller scale (more like CoD than classic Battlefield in terms of campaign and multiplayer modes) game that was mainly a platform to test a new engine, which would then be used as the platform that Battlefront 3 would be built on. Realistically, that's the only part of modern Lucasarts that I'm sad to see go. Thinking back, pretty much all of the games from them I cared about back in the day were made by another dev and just published by Lucasarts. The only two games I know for sure were developed in house were Dark Forces and the first Jedi Knight -- the other two games in that series were farmed out to another studio. I guess the Rebel Assault games may have also been done in house? Because I know the X-Wing series was done by Totally Games, and those are the three big Lucasarts games I played as a kid. The two series I've liked since then have been done by Bioware/Obsidian and Pandemic.

Basically, Lucasarts was only a great /developer/ back in their Adventure game heyday and maybe for a few years after that. Essentially everything good they've put out since Jedi Knight they just published, not developed.

 

[Breywood]

I agree with the sentiments of many of the posters here. I haven't heard of a decent game from them in forever, but those classic titles like Maniac Mansion, X-Wing, TIE Fighter, Full Throttle, Rebel Assault, Day of the Tentacle and Zak McKracken are some of the most cherished titles in my collection.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

This probably wouldn't have been necessary if LucasArts hadn't been limiting themselves to only doing Star Wars related projects.

 

[Thoric485]

If that happened 10 years ago, I'd be pretty pissed.

But nowadays, after everything that went down with Free Radical, I don't think putting them down is much of a loss.

 

[GAunderrated]

I'm actually not even upset by this. Between TFU:2, star wars kinnect, and whatever other shovelware they have been peddling these past years they had it coming.

Am I sad about not seeing Jedi Knight 4, another KoTR, or BF3? You bet your ass I am. However, let's be realistic here for a second. Lucasarts had YEARS to do anything with these titles other than shelving them and didn't do shit with those IP's.

Disney didn't deprive you of these titles, Lucasarts deprived you of those titles and disney rightly put them out of their misery.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

That's really bad news. They've provided me with hours and hours and entertainment over the decades. I have alwasy held out hope for a sequel to Full Throttle. Condolences to the staff now out of a job.

 

[Do4600]

Spoiler: In Memoriam

Don't you mean "The Final Straw"?

I really don't give a damn about Lucasarts anymore, their magic lasted for ten years from 1989 to 1999(Coincidence? Fuck no!) then they faded, the last game I bought of theirs was Battlefront 2, everything after that was the wail of a dying, bleeding beast, lego games and dance games? How do you go from Star Wars: Tie Fighter and Full Throttle to Angry Birds: Star Wars and Kinect Star Wars? Your parent company makes shit movies that's how.

Episode 1 ruined everything.

 

[Sewer Rat]

Goodnight sweet Game Producer, and flights of Star Wars cash ins sing thee to thy rest.
Honestly though, despite their pedigree, recently they just haven't put out anything worth a damn with the arguable exception of the Battlefront series which were mostly done by Pandemic (RIP) anyway.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Ironically, one of the last LucasArts titles I truly enjoyed was Afterlife. For a company that (for me at least) pretty much defined 90's gaming they really have had their foot off the gas for the last fifteen years.

Something to think about. I'm not sure how they got so bad. It's like everything "Lucas" got flipped upside down at the same time.

Still, shame about those people getting laid off.

Yes, it's a shame for them individually but I really hope this means a better development landscape elsewhere in game development world where the best of those laid off get picked up quickly.

Had the layoffs happened ten years ago I have no doubt that other developers would snap up those 150 staff members in short order. The problem is that LucasArts has done little in the last decade except re-hash the same few StarWars and Indiana Jones games, so is there really anything a dev can look at to say "Yes! I want the people responsible for 'insert title here' on our payroll!" ? Unfortunately, probably not.

 

[kael013]

*ahem*

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Now that that is out of the way, let's get serious.

Disney, what was the point of buying the studio if you were just going to shut it down? It just wasted your money, rid you of 150 people who would have made whatever you told them to (was honestly expecting an Episode 7 tie-in/cashgrab), and showed the gaming world you have very little understanding of what you're doing.

Plus cancelling [i/]all[/i] LucasArts projects? That was just stupid. Now everyone waiting for 1313 (i.e. roughly 2/3 of the Star Wars fanbase) hates you. You better either start up a Star Wars studio or start letting other studios pick up that game quick -and starting BF3 and Republic Commando 2 while you're at it wouldn't be a bad idea either.

 

[bl4ckh4wk64]

God damnit, I thought if we elected Obama, the Chinese would somehow get the rights to Star Wars and keep it, and LucasArts, safe!
Sorry, South Park joke.

OT: I kinda saw this coming. Yeah, it's sad but I guess it allows for a whole new reset of a few of their games. I'm still hoping for both a Republic Commando 2 and a Battlefront 3.

 

[Scorpid]

Yeah proud enough to fire 150 of them I see. That said yeah I'm not too sad about losing LucasArts. The guys that made it great in the 90's had long since been sacked or moved on only to be replaced by nitwits that didn't know how to make a videogame.

CAPTCHA: Cut and Run
indeed it was CAPTACHA. Thanks for adding.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

I want to get upset but Lucasarts hasn't done anything decent in over a decade. I could look at this as a mercy killing. It sucks about the job losses though.

 

[Nurb]

LucasArts has been sick for a while. It needed for us to just let it go.

Remember the good times, and know that with LucasArts games in your game library, they're never truely gone.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, dirige nos Domine Domine

 

[Carnagath]

Telltale Games! Can you hear me?!

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

Nobody who isn't called Tim Schaffer can do Grim Fandango.

 

[grey_space]

It was time to put the old dog down.

Indeed.



I loved a lot of the old games, KOTOR is still a game I replay from time to time, and I wasted a lot of my life as a teenager on Tie Fighter. But sure what have they done lately? Do not mention that mutated mess of a kinect game to me.


I was looking forward to the remastered Monkey Island though. Here's hoping Disney lets some good indie developers (or indeed ANY developers) at some of the awesome titles in Lucas Arts stable.

 

[Ishigami]

It is kinda sad from a historic perspective. After all Lucas Arts was great with their adventures and their space action games such as Tie Fighter.
However as already mentioned their recent track record is not really note worthy.
I think it is still regrettable that their latest title in development StarWars 1313 will never see the light of day. It could have been a great opportunity to reclaim some of the old glory before leaving the stage. Not to mention it might have a nice recommendation for some of the employees that have to go now.
That is if it turned out good.

Well good bye Lucas Arts.

 

[LordLundar]

I'm neutral on this.

It sucks for the 15 people that were sacked, but consider this: LucasArts has only been focusing on SW titles for some time now and even with those it was more licensing out to other studios than making the titles themselves.

As well, Disney already has a game studio that actually does develop their own titles. LucasArts was more likely redundant than anything.

 

[Kyrian007]

They'd pretty much been just a licensing arm for a while (most of their well remembered games were developed by others) but still, this is sad enough. Some of my favorite games...

Ride into the sunset Lucasarts, we'll miss you.

 

[Darren716]

Good-bye Lucas Arts you created one of my favorite games of all time, Star Wars Battlefront 2 and it'll be a damn shame if we will never be able to see a third entry or one that lives up to the legacy of number 2. I hope all those who were laid off find new jobs quickly and that they have success in the future.