Disney Shuts Down LucasArts Video Game Company

[Zephon]

From what I hear, yes Disney shut down LucasArts, but they're planning on still having games made. Only they'll be licensing them out to other companies for hopefully more success like the KOTORs and Battlefronts. Taken from another source, LucasArts had a lot of BAD games also, such as Super Bombad Racing, Star Wars Kinect, and Masters of Teras Kasi. While those WERE bad games, I will miss LucasArts for sure. And will continue to hope that SW:1313 IS picked up by another company.

Today's news probably dooms Star Wars 1313, the gritty shooter that made waves at last E3. A representative for LucasFilm told Game Informer that there's a possibility that an external licensee could pick up the project. Kotaku's source is less optimistic, saying that that the chances of this are "effectively zero."

[Sky Dragon c5]

What about Monkey Island, Force Unleashed, Lego Star Wars, Battle Front, Knights of the old republic, Empire At War, Plus a host of PC Star Wars games spanning years!

[Kham-Ryn Kurios]

From what I hear, yes Disney shut down LucasArts, but they're planning on still having games made. Only they'll be licensing them out to other companies for hopefully more success like the KOTORs and Battlefronts. Taken from another source, LucasArts had a lot of BAD games also, such as Super Bombad Racing, Star Wars Kinect, and Masters of Teras Kasi. While those WERE bad games, I will miss LucasArts for sure. And will continue to hope that SW:1313 IS picked up by another company.

I can't be the only person that has played Teras Kasi and liked it? Of course it was bad but it was Star Wars. 

All of what you said makes a lot of sense though, as a business you have to trim the fat.

[Manroon]

Alas, poor Lucasarts. I knew ye well...

[Waxman]

No more Monkey Island, Jedi Knight games [well, last game was in 2003 I think], and many other things that I don't play anymore because for whatever reason, many Lucasarts games were pretty bad.

I'm not trying to be Devil's Advocate here, I like Lucasarts, lots of memories, BUT I haven't played a good Star Wars game since like JK3: Jedi Academy, I think.

I'm not sure why they stopped making adventure-puzzle games.  Those were so much fun and I learned so much about the world from Monkey Island, like if you magnetize a pin you can make a make-shift compass, stuff like that.

Oh well, things move on and who knows, maybe they'll come out with some really good games along with some really good movies.

[Luna]

No more Monkey Island, Jedi Knight games [well, last game was in 2003 I think], and many other things that I don't play anymore because for whatever reason, many Lucasarts games were pretty bad.

I'm not trying to be Devil's Advocate here, I like Lucasarts, lots of memories, BUT I haven't played a good Star Wars game since like JK3: Jedi Academy, I think.

I'm not sure why they stopped making adventure-puzzle games.  Those were so much fun and I learned so much about the world from Monkey Island, like if you magnetize a pin you can make a make-shift compass, stuff like that.

Oh well, things move on and who knows, maybe they'll come out with some really good games along with some really good movies.

I agree. Like I said - it's like killing a childhood friend. It's about the memories, not the present. However, 1313 was looking pretty awesome.

[darth tratus]

I was really looking foward to playing 1313. I hope Star Wars doesn't become a show/movie for like 5 year olds. And if they end up making a Star Wars theme park they better have some awesome rides. I'm also sad about first assault which seemed very cool. I was hoping of getting back into shooting games.

[Oramac]

Am I the only one who's not the slightest bit surprised by this?  If I'd been thinking I'd have bought stock in Disney a couple days ago and made some money off the announcement. 

I love Star Wars and LucasArts, but outside 1313 I can't think of a good game they've made or previewed for quite a while.  And let's face it, Disney is a business, they can make better products and more money by contracting out to companies like BioWare for Star Wars games. 

[RogueLeader]

I wonder what will happen to Lucasforums now...

[Aurentis]

What about Monkey Island, Force Unleashed, Lego Star Wars, Battle Front, Knights of the old republic, Empire At War, Plus a host of PC Star Wars games spanning years!

To be fair, LEGO Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic, Empire at War, and Battlefront were not primarily LucasArts titles.  They basically piggybacked on those titles and stuck their logo on the box as a publisher/licensing entity.  Also, TFU was okay, but TFUII was kind of terrible.

As for the Star Wars PC titles, I honestly think they topped out with Jedi Knight II.  I didn't really think Jedi Academy was all that great by the time I was done with it; the way they handled alignment was kind of weak.  (Literally, "Left-click to fall to the Dark Side, Press 1 to stay a good guy" -- seriously?  All the in-game lectures and advice from Luke and Kyle boil down to this?)
Having said that, LucasArts had a lot of wonderful, wonderful titles in the 90s, several of which have already been named in this discussion.  I can't even count the number of times I played through Full Throttle.  That game was my jam when I was a kid.

[Luna]

To be fair, LEGO Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic, Empire at War, and Battlefront were not primarily LucasArts titles.  They basically piggybacked on those titles and stuck their logo on the box as a publisher/licensing entity.  Also, TFU was okay, but TFUII was kind of terrible.

As for the Star Wars PC titles, I honestly think they topped out with Jedi Knight II.  I didn't really think Jedi Academy was all that great by the time I was done with it; the way they handled alignment was kind of weak.  (Literally, "Left-click to fall to the Dark Side, Press 1 to stay a good guy" -- seriously?  All the in-game lectures and advice from Luke and Kyle boil down to this?)
Having said that, LucasArts had a lot of wonderful, wonderful titles in the 90s, several of which have already been named in this discussion.  I can't even count the number of times I played through Full Throttle.  That game was my jam when I was a kid.

Well said, and I agree on all points (especially TFU2 ). Point.

[Waxman]

To be fair, LEGO Star Wars, Knights of the Old Republic, Empire at War, and Battlefront were not primarily LucasArts titles.  They basically piggybacked on those titles and stuck their logo on the box as a publisher/licensing entity.  Also, TFU was okay, but TFUII was kind of terrible.

As for the Star Wars PC titles, I honestly think they topped out with Jedi Knight II.  I didn't really think Jedi Academy was all that great by the time I was done with it; the way they handled alignment was kind of weak.  (Literally, "Left-click to fall to the Dark Side, Press 1 to stay a good guy" -- seriously?  All the in-game lectures and advice from Luke and Kyle boil down to this?)
Having said that, LucasArts had a lot of wonderful, wonderful titles in the 90s, several of which have already been named in this discussion.  I can't even count the number of times I played through Full Throttle.  That game was my jam when I was a kid.

Oh, I completely agree with Jedi Academy being inferior to Jedi Knight II.

The only thing I really liked about the game was that you could customize your character, your lightsaber and color, there were more multiplayer features and graphics, and there were more saber and acrobatic moves you could perform in combat or just on your own.

You have to understand, I used to role-play on Jedi Academy on a server for like 3-4 years so there were tons of memories that came because of it.

Jedi Knight II, however, despite being more linear, made up for it in having really fun levels and a really fun story.

In a way, it makes sense Disney shut down Lucas Arts, it's not like that company really makes games anymore.  As you said, Lucas Arts just puts their logo on every Star wars game because, well, at the time it was owned by Lucas, but that doesn't necessarily mean they make games anymore.

Look at Sam and Max, they certainly started with Lucas Arts, but now the majority of their games are made by Telltale Games, Monkey Island included.  These are the same developers who came out with the Walking Dead game, which is freakin' amazing by the way, but I digress.
The funny thing is, Telltale Games was founded by former employees of Lucas Arts, so in a way, the adventure-puzzle games DO live on, only they aren't developed by Lucas Arts anymore.  But so what?

Same with Disney.  They licensed their characters out to Square-Enix to make Kingdom Hearts.  They can put their logo right alongside Square-Enix, but I highly doubt Disney does any at all developing for the game.  In fact, the only time I saw Diseny promote the game was for Kingdom Hearts 1 back in like 2002/2003 on the Disney Channel in which the girl who played Kairi said "it was really fun".

I'm surprised Disney doesn't even have merchandise or a ride at Disney Land.  To be fair though, Kingdom Hearts is, as of present, less about Disney or Final Fantasy, but more about original angst-filled anime characters and their problems.
But again, I digress.

[B1ondeange1]

i was wishing it was all an elaborate joke when i heard. my worry is what this might be for the future of star wars

LucasArts had a lot of BAD games also, such as Super Bombad Racing, Star Wars Kinect, and Masters of Teras Kasi. While those WERE bad games, I will miss LucasArts for sure.

awww, its not that bad, i enjoy jumping around my loungeroom like an idiot pretending im swinging a lightsaber in Star Wars Kinect. or rampaging like a rancor. granted, i havent played very much of it, my injured ankle cant take much too much jumping around and our loungeroom has to be rearranged to get in the kinects right range hehe. it might not be the best storyline or gameplay, but its still fun! and rancor rampage is a bit silly, but its hilarious! and the dance off?! i get the starwars versions stuck in my head whenever the originals play on the radio lol!
in saying that i only have it coz it came with my xbox, im rather in love with my r2d2 xbox 360 

[Big Boss]

 
The Last Months Of LucasArts (And A Glimpse Of Battlefront III)
http://kotaku.com/the-last-months-of-lucasarts-472038151

[Kham-Ryn Kurios]

The Last Months Of LucasArts (And A Glimpse Of Battlefront III)
http://kotaku.com/the-last-months-of-lucasarts-472038151

That makes me sad because that was throughly badass.

It looked so good.

Shawn Spencer: I mean imagine you weren't just a plain, gangly average human, huh?. That you could wink at someone and light up their world! That you could make a child think that you have given them an ice cream cone without giving them the cone! And then watch them skip off into a beautiful meadow licking nothing but air! Imagine that!

That's what I'd like to imagine the artists that lost jobs over this feel like.