Recently acquired by Disney, LucasArts has been closed. LucasArts, known for not only publishing Star Wars games like Star Wars Battlefront I and II, Lego Star Wars I-III, and Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy also published Escape from Monkey Island, Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, Lego Indiana Jones, and many more. LucasArts had been struggling to release any new well-received titles but the future looked hopeful with the upcoming Star Wars 1313 and Star Wars First Assault, which unfortunately have officially been cancelled. Disney recently acquired LucasFilms and LucasArts last October and announced a number of projects including new Star Wars movies and of course, the impressive looking Star Wars 1313 which was showcased in a demo for E3 2012.
Disney released an official statement about the studio closing:
“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.”
LucasArts‘ last official published game was Star Wars Kinect, which was not very successful or highly rated. The industry continues to watch as studios shut down and all we can hope for is that the staff at LucasArts and the other studios hit with layoffs find work and success quickly in these hard times.
On the upside there’s a job list Google Doc floating around, and companies like @IrrationalGames have been quick to hit social media with availabilities for those affected.
