Disney Shuts Down LucasArts, Cancels Star Wars 1313 And Star Wars: First Assault

[StarCityBrickCompany]

Disney just doesn't care. If there were any other Lucas projects in the works - expect that Disney will be getting around to killing those ones as well.

[comicblast]

Where did you get this info? Very curious on this one, as a huge George Lucas, Star Wars, and Lucas Inc. fan, this stuff is interesting to me! If this is true, I am going to rage at them!

[cflannagan]

First link in Google http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/03/technology/disney-lucasarts/

[StarCityBrickCompany]

Where did you get this info? Very curious on this one, as a huge George Lucas, Star Wars, and Lucas Inc. fan, this stuff is interesting to me! If this is true, I am going to rage at them!

Rage away - just search Lucasarts in google news.

I could understand them wanting to end expensive internal productions, but when projects are pretty much complete - they could at least let them be finished. Season 6 of the Clone wars was completed already (the actors had done already done their voices/scenes for the full season) & 1313 was just about done & was looking very promising.

[kerrmando]

That sucks..

[toolbox1]

wow...disney sucks

[peeiempee]

You guys realize its the video game right? Lucasarts never made good games except for monkey island when I was a kid. Good choice

[peeiempee]

I feel bad for the workers, but the right call from a business stand point.

[dakotahorn]

I feel bad for the workers, but the right call from a business stand point.

I can't imagine it being a smart business move. They fired 150 people. 1313 has been in the works for 3 years. What do you think the average salary is for those employees? 60k by the time you add in the project managers and department leads? That's some major money to just cancel a couple of projects.

Bummer.

[cflannagan]

You guys realize its the video game right? Lucasarts never made good games except for monkey island when I was a kid. Good choice

Huh? Lucasarts did much more than just the Monkey Island series.

You missed the following:

Zak McCracken and the Alien Mindbenders

Maniac Mansion

Maniac Mansion 2: Day of the Tentacle

Full Throttle

Grim Fandango

X-Wing

Tie FIghter

and more... all those I listed were critically acclaimed PC games back in their days.

Granted, Lucasarts might not be as awesome as their prime days (the 1990's), but still, we lost a very good game development company, unfortunately. Gamers like myself do not take this kind of news lightly. Pretty sad news.

[StarCityBrickCompany]

I can't imagine it being a smart business move. They fired 150 people. 1313 has been in the works for 3 years. What do you think the average salary is for those employees? 60k by the time you add in the project managers and department leads? That's some major money to just cancel a couple of projects.

Bummer.

Disney hasn't even been the one paying them for the past 3 years - So they pretty much just scrapped a complete project, that they never paid for. Same thing with Season 6 of CW. It was pretty much done (Free of charge to Disney), a hit show, & they still pulled the plug.

Although many complained about Lucas & his decisions, he cared about what he believed in - and it showed. He would overspend if he wanted to, always looking to take things to the next level. Even if his projects failed, he would still be advancing the industy overall.

[Darth Lego]

Huh? Lucasarts did much more than just the Monkey Island series.

You missed the following:

Zak McCracken and the Alien Mindbenders

Maniac Mansion

Maniac Mansion 2: Day of the Tentacle

Full Throttle

Grim Fandango

X-Wing

Tie FIghter

and more... all those I listed were critically acclaimed PC games back in their days.

Granted, Lucasarts might not be as awesome as their prime days (the 1990's), but still, we lost a very good game development company, unfortunately. Gamers like myself do not take this kind of news lightly. Pretty sad news.

Very sad news. Here are some more recent games that I have.

Star Wars Battlefront I and II

Star Wars the Force Unleashed I and II

Lego Star Wars I and II

Lego Indiana Jones

Thrillville I and II

I also have a bunch of PC Star Wars games from the 90s and 00s.

It is a real bummer to have a great company like this one shut down for really no reason. I am going to miss Lucasarts a lot. It's a real bummer for us gamers.

[Alcarin]

Huh? Lucasarts did much more than just the Monkey Island series.

You missed the following:

Zak McCracken and the Alien Mindbenders

Maniac Mansion

Maniac Mansion 2: Day of the Tentacle

Full Throttle

Grim Fandango

X-Wing

Tie FIghter

and more... all those I listed were critically acclaimed PC games back in their days.

Granted, Lucasarts might not be as awesome as their prime days (the 1990's), but still, we lost a very good game development company, unfortunately. Gamers like myself do not take this kind of news lightly. Pretty sad news.

Very sad news. Here are some more recent games that I have.

Star Wars Battlefront I and II

Star Wars the Force Unleashed I and II

Lego Star Wars I and II

Lego Indiana Jones

Thrillville I and II

I also have a bunch of PC Star Wars games from the 90s and 00s.

It is a real bummer to have a great company like this one shut down for really no reason. I am going to miss Lucasarts a lot. It's a real bummer for us gamers.

The Irony of Lucasarts and George Lucas is, that the best Star Wars game that was created so far, belongs to Biowares development of Knights of The Old Republic....

All Lucasarts Star Wars game feel lacking compared to that masterpiece, granted my opinion might be little biased since I prefer RPG and story over space fights...

[comicblast]

Out of all those games, I probably won't miss any of them, except for Battlefront I and II and The Old Republic. I was totally addicted to Battlefront I!

[dakotahorn]

I can't imagine it being a smart business move. They fired 150 people. 1313 has been in the works for 3 years. What do you think the average salary is for those employees? 60k by the time you add in the project managers and department leads? That's some major money to just cancel a couple of projects.

Bummer.

Disney hasn't even been the one paying them for the past 3 years - So they pretty much just scrapped a complete project, that they never paid for. Same thing with Season 6 of CW. It was pretty much done (Free of charge to Disney), a hit show, & they still pulled the plug.

Although many complained about Lucas & his decisions, he cared about what he believed in - and it showed. He would overspend if he wanted to, always looking to take things to the next level. Even if his projects failed, he would still be advancing the industy overall.

I don't think that's true at all. It was part of the 4 billion valuation or whatever crazy number disney gave Lucas. There is no way current projects and revenue streams were just left out in negotiations. So Disney did pay for those salaries. One way or another.

[gte206w]

Huh? Lucasarts did much more than just the Monkey Island series.

You missed the following:

Zak McCracken and the Alien Mindbenders

Maniac Mansion

Maniac Mansion 2: Day of the Tentacle

Full Throttle

Grim Fandango

X-Wing

Tie FIghter

and more... all those I listed were critically acclaimed PC games back in their days.

Granted, Lucasarts might not be as awesome as their prime days (the 1990's), but still, we lost a very good game development company, unfortunately. Gamers like myself do not take this kind of news lightly. Pretty sad news.

I loved me some of The Dig back in the day.

[sadowsk1]

That's too bad. I really enjoyed a wide variety of Lucas Arts products.

[TheOrcKing]

*sigh* It's decisions like these that confirm exactly where Disney stands in the business world. They may have a cute innocent image like Mickey to hide behind, but the truth is they have quite literally become the Empire.

Check out the attached comic. It's rather spot on don't you think?

Here's a link to the orignal page.

[Darth_Raichu]

At the end of the day, Disney is a business. just like any other business money talks. After the John Carter fiasco (I know it is under movie division), I bet most of the exec at Disney are very weary to support any unproven projects. Plus, don't they already have a video game division ?

Out of all those games, I probably won't miss any of them, except for Battlefront I and II and The Old Republic. I was totally addicted to Battlefront I!

Battlefront II was better due to vehicles and providing you install the unofficial mods to fix some bugs. Also, the Clone Wars mod was just excellent in providing game variety and balance.

[Blackjack]

I wonder if season 6 of the CW will be discovered in a hidden file someday. :)

[chihuahualawyer]

From a business standpoint, it is necessary. Here are my thoughts: They are trying to focus on large scale profitability. If pulling the plug on CW means more fans anxiously awaiting ANYTHING new in the SW realm, then they'll do it. This is all to lead up to the big, new movie. As far as LucasArts, they haven't had a hit since the 90's (besides lego games). Licensing will net them more money without the overhead and marketing costs. If you read anything about video game development companies, it is a VERY ROUGH business and most companies take loss after loss and risk everything for a hit like HALO or Call of Duty. Disney is in it to win it!

[cflannagan]

As far as LucasArts, they haven't had a hit since the 90's (besides lego games). Licensing will net them more money without the overhead and marketing costs. If you read anything about video game development companies, it is a VERY ROUGH business and most companies take loss after loss and risk everything for a hit like HALO or Call of Duty. Disney is in it to win it!

Minor nitpick: technically, LucasArts only published the LEGO Star Wars games, not developed those. Traveller's Tales were the developer. (I do realize you're not really saying LucasArts developed the LEGO games either, just wanted to point it out for others)