In Memoriam: Disney closes LucasArts, leaving behind decades of adventures with future of "Star Wars" games unknown - Inside the Magic

Comments for In Memoriam: Disney closes LucasArts, leaving behind decades of adventures with future of “Star Wars” games unknown

38 Comments

  1. Tis a sad day in gaming history 🙁

  2. Justin

    Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is still the 2nd best Indiana Jones adventure(behind Raiders of course)!

  3. Wow Disney. Way to suck.

  4. Roddy Barros

    On my list, you just forgot Full Throttle, The Dig and Loom. 🙂

    1. Ricky Brigante

      I was kind of going for my own personal “best of,” as I never played The Dig or Loom and never quite got into Full Throttle. But I’ve added them for the sake of completion.

  5. Eric Ramocki

    Night in the Inventory 2 will feature Sam as a character, so TellTale is still doing stuff with Sam and Max.

  6. Carlos

    Great report, Ricky. Definitely some of my most memorable gaming experiences came from Lucasrts titles. I do believe Knights of the Old Republic was Bioware though.

    1. Ricky Brigante

      Aha! You’re right. LucasArts only published that game. BioWare developed it. So I have removed it from the list above. Thanks!

      1. Eric Ramocki

        Remove Star Wars Battlefront too, since it was developed by Pandemic Studios.

        1. Ricky Brigante

          I thought LucasArts had a hand in developing that one alongside Pandemic but further research shows they were just the publisher. So I’ve removed it… and it has indeed been many years since LucasArts created a game from the ground up without outside help. Those days are sorely missed.

  7. Otto

    Thats terrible!
    Star Wars 1313 was getting amazing respons from gamers after it was shown on E3. Very, very disapointing. We probably get more kinect and bad movie tie ins crap from Disney in the future.

  8. Apocalypse Pooh

    Ricky — LucasFilm did this, not Disney. You’re misreporting this story. CNET stated LucasFilm was thinking about doing this maybe even before the merger.

    1. Ricky Brigante

      But LucasFilm is owned by Disney now. If Pixar makes a decision, it’s still a decision made under the Disney umbrella. Likewise, if Marvel announces something, it’s a Disney announcement. The same now applies for LucasFilm. And whether LucasFilm was considering this prior to Disney’s purchase doesn’t matter. The trigger was pulled now, under Disney’s watch. So the headline is not inaccurate.

      With that said, I have updated the attribution of the statement above directly to LucasFilm. Thanks for that clarification.

      1. Apocalypse Pooh

        Of course it’s inaccurate. The reason Lucas sold his company to Disney was because of the “hands-off” approach taken with Pixar and Marvel. Lucas was impressed. The headlines for this story are at the same level as when Miramax was under Disney’s umbrella, and everytime Miramax won an oscar, the story was “Miramax wins Best Picture”, but every time they did something controversial, the headline was “Disney to make film attacking Catholics” or “Disney to make film highlighting underage sex”. It’s cheap muckraking, and is inaccurate, bad reporting. LucasFilm did this, not Disney. Sure, Disney had to sign off of it, but Lucasfilm has been wanting to do this for months, apparently, even before the merger.

        1. Apocalypse Pooh

          When ESPN fired Rush Limbaugh, would you have reported “Disney Fired Rush Limbaugh”?

        2. Eric Ramocki

          Either you are terribly misinformed Pooh or you are trying to troll us.

          1. Apocalypse Tigger

            Woo hoo hoo, and Tigger too!

          2. Apocalypse Pooh

            “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,” LUCASFILM said in a statement. “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.”

            Disney purchased LucasFilm and all its subsidiaries last October. BUT the source told CNET that LUCASFILM had been looking at moving to a licensed model for some time, presumably even BEFORE THE ACQUISITION last fall, in large part because doing so reduces the financial risk associated with developing ambitious — and expensive — games.”

            http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57577802/disney-to-shut-down-lucasarts-report-says/

            I’m seriously misinformed? No, I can read.

          3. Eric Ramocki

            Pooh other sources state that LucasFilms wanted to finished 1313 before shutting down the studio.

            “Our source says Lucas has pursued the option for “one or both games,” but nothing happened. “With the teams now basically being dispersed I think both games are effectively dead forever,” our source said.”

            Disney expatiated the process.

  9. Jason

    It is still going to be sorely missed, no matter who made the decision. I sure hope the other Star Wars projects get picked up. They sounded very interesting and it’s been a while since a Star Wars game came out (aside form the MMORPG side of things.

    1. Apocalypse Pooh

      Jason, one of the unspoken reasons why they’re doing this is for a giant marketing push for Episode VII. They’ve “cleared the deck” for a marketing onslaught the likes of which we’ve never seen. Get ready for a deluge of SW games, across multiple platforms, in time for the launch of the seventh film.

  10. Apocalypse Pooh

    Eric – regarding 1313:

    “Although LucasArts itself will halt development of its two major projects, “Star Wars 1313” and “Star Wars: First Assault,” it appears that those games are not dead in the water. A source with knowledge of the decision told CNET that neither game is being fully shut down, but that it has not yet been determined what will happen to them. However, LUCASFILM HAS DECIDED that “Star Wars” games should now be developed either by third-party studios or by Disney Interactive.”

    –cbsnews.com

    1. Eric Ramocki

      From Today:

      ‘A LucasFilm representative confirmed that production on Star Wars 1313 and what’s rumored to be Star Wars: First Assault has ceased following yesterday’s closure of LucasArts by Disney. Speaking to the BBC, LucasFilm spokesperson Miles Perkins said, “Both current Star Wars games projects have been halted.”‘

      http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/04/star-wars-1313-halted-says-lucasfilm/

      1. Eric Ramocki

        Also they are releasing story info from the cancelled project too:

        http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/4/4183890/star-wars-1313-video-game-starred-boba-fett

  11. Alan Rogers

    So sorry to hear about this. I feel that you’ve left out some other ‘good’ games, speciffically, ‘Secret Weapons Over Normandy’. I’ve
    always liked that when you beat the game, you win both an X-Wing and a TIE Fighter to play with in the ‘Instant Action’ section of the game. You could hone your pilot skills with these craft against computer-run or opponent-run dogfights against WWII aircraft or each other. Fun. Another LucasArt game I like is called ‘Armed And Dangerous’. Another very good game. Oh well, we will survive, just not in style.

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