LucasArts is Gone

[Fusion]

http://kotaku.com/disney-shuts-down-lucasarts-468473749

"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."

Well, I hope you took my advice and didn't get too hyped for 1313 and First Assault.

[giftheck]

I'm assuming all previous licenses for games underneath the LucasArts banner now transfer completely to Disney. What exactly does this mean for the future of the modding communities?

[Maveritchell]

I'm assuming all previous licenses for games underneath the LucasArts banner now transfer completely to Disney. What exactly does this mean for the future of the modding communities?

That happened months ago with Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm and its subsidiaries. Nothing changes.

And yeah, this is a bummer. I'd hoped to get a chance to work with LA some day. Guess that won't happen.

[guru]

A comment says :"Basically LucasArts was filled with overqualified people who demand higher wages, so it's cheaper to fire them and hire some graduates who will work for a starting salary."

And therein lies my issue with the corporate business model that treats wages/employment as the first cost to cut.

[Teancum]

Well, amidst all my rage I have to admit that LucasArts has been dying a slow death for years now. Maybe letting things get developed externally will improve the situation, but I'm on the fence. I mean, look at what Raven Software churned out. Two amazing Star Wars games. On the other hand, now any potential games are pushed to (at the very least) 2014. Word on the street is (I'm small time press) that First Assault was outright canned as well.

[RogueKnight]

I'd like to trade LucasArts in for EA games? Anyone else with me on that?

[Zapattack1234]

eh, at least now we might get a battlefront 3 sometime in the next millenium

[noMatt]

Theres no official confirmation to that. I hope kotaku is wrong informed

[Teancum]

Sorry NoMatt, it's been reported in several places.

[Fusion]

Official confirmation to what? LucasArts being shut down? 150+ people lost their jobs and are now looking for work, you bet there's confirmation.

1313 being shut down? Who knows, apparently they already tried to pass it off to another developer and it didn't work out. First Assault is confirmed dead though.

[TWINKEYRUNAWAY]

........I um.....I think ill....yup my heart is pretty much broken.

Thanks Disney, thanks for cancelling star wars the clone wars, thanks for cancelling Star Wars First Assault and thanks for cancelling Star Wars 1313. Oh and thanks for shutting down Lucas Arts and putting 150 out of their jobs, way to make good with the fans. Way to monkey flippen make good with the fans indeed.

Ill get over it but seriously? Is this how Disney is going to handle things? My respect for them went from a 9 to a 2 on a 10 scale.

[AvalancheMaster]

Well, honestly, Disney are in their right to fire whoever they find suitable, and the fact that 150 people are now without job isn't a powerful argument - if you have 150 underqualified people, nobody can argue you that you need to keep them just because otherwise they won't have a job.

But the fact remains - I'm getting more and more anxious about the whole LucasArt - Disney deal. After Jobs' passing Disney has been acting like a jerk (especially with the rumours about Pixar), and now it seems that they're trying to devour Star Wars' brand instead of reviving it. Sadly, in the end they'll find themselves feasting on rotting carcass instead of milking a golden cow.

[TWINKEYRUNAWAY]

Well, honestly, Disney are in their right to fire whoever they find suitable, and the fact that 150 people are now without job isn't a powerful argument - if you have 150 underqualified people, nobody can argue you that you need to keep them just because otherwise they won't have a job.

That doesn't make it right though. Anyone can fire an employee, but firing so many people? How do we truly know that every single one of them was under qualified(Considering that lucas arts had hired new employees for both games, so it's not like they were all sucky game designers)? Who knows, 1313 and first assault might have been the chance lucas arts needed to show that they can make good games again. We won't even get that chance now that the company is gone altogether. I think with the way Disney is handling the property now gives us a good idea of what they can do. I don't think I need to make a powerful argument to show that disney isn't taking fan consideration at heart.

[yuke5]

Oof. Well, at least I know that First Assault won't happen, for sure.

[Marth8880]

Not surprised in the least, and to be honest, I really don't care all that much. Not a single game has interested me since Battlefront II, Republic Commando, and JKII: Outcast. The reason why it's unsurprising is because the entire game industry is crashing due to the economy and Electronic Arts (naturally; the U.S. economy is not up for discussion though, so SHUT UP, YOU...PEOPLE).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZxXEidtxHk

[TWINKEYRUNAWAY]

Well I was cruising on around and found this statement made by Disney.

“It is worth noting that we are looking for proven external partners who can help us provide video games to our fans. We still believe in the video game industry, we still will provide Star Wars games, we’re just looking at different models rather than internal production… They’re evaluating everything. There’s always a possibility that it [Star Wars 1313] can still come out via licensing.”

After taking some time to cool off, I think that maybe if Disney decides to give these projects to capable devs, it wont be so bad. Though my heart is still saddened by this, it might open new doors....or cash ins. Im waiting 2 more years before I make a sound decision. I will always remember games that they did develope themselves like monkey island, republic commando, xwing vs tiefighter. These classics will always be held dear to me and with that I say farewell lucas arts.

[minilogoguy18]

You guys in this community should try and get a hold of anyone you can at EA (that is who bought Pandemic right?) for the games source code since it can be freely released with LA gone. This just happened in the JK community, all the coders there are tearing apart the source codes for JK2 and JA mainly for graphics enhancements.

LA being gone is sorta a good thing for any future SW games, Disney will outsource to 3rd party studios making game modding a possibility again where as recent SW games had no modding support (TFU for example).

Most of the best SW games were made by outsourcing, SWBF2 for instance.

[Teancum]

OMFG! If only someone still had the source code to the ORIGINAL Jedi Knight. If only we knew some of the good ole' Pandemic chaps. Last I heard the engine could either be under a holding company in EA or still the property of whoever was CEO of Pandemic. I'd ask psych0fred, but he's been out of that industry for years.

**EDIT**

Sent off an email to an old acquaintance about finding someone who still has the full source. I'd REALLY like to find someone from the now-defunct Rainbow Studios that can give us the source to Racer Revenge. That'd be amazing to play on PC.

[Cerfon Rournes]

It's a darn shame that LucasArts is closed, but hopefully this is a step in the right direction for future Star Wars games.

[Fusion]

I think it would be most appropriate if my remarks about Battlefront last night somehow resulted in us being able to turn Battlefront into a better game by obtaining the source code. This would go perfectly with my horrible superpower to have a rare bug occur while beta testing a map.