Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

A million Star Wars fans cry out, and are silenced as Disney closes LucasArts

Anthony John Agnello
By
star Wars 1313
Image used with permission by copyright holder

2013 continues to prove a brutal year for many video game studios. Joining the likes of Vigil Games (Darksiders) and others under THQ’s umbrella is the 31-year-old development house LucasArts.

“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,” reads a statement from Lucasfilm, “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.

Recommended Videos

Opened by George Lucas and Lucasfilm, the studio produced some of the most groundbreaking PC games of the 1980s and ‘90s, from the early adventure games of Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer like Maniac Mansion and Grim Fandango, to space combat games like X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter. Since Disney acquired Lucasfilm in October 2012 though, the future of LucasArts has been in question. Disney CEO Bob Iger said after completing the $4 billion acquisition that Disney planned to focus on developing mobile and social games based on the Star Wars series while exploring licensing opportunities with outside video game studios.

Related

A Kotaku report in March said that LucasArts employees were trying to finish work on a downloadable multiplayer game for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 called Star Wars: First Assault, a test bed for a possible Star Wars: Battlefront III, but Disney was still vacillating on whether or not to keep the studio open. “Fans should tell Disney/Lucas loud and clear they don’t want shitty titles from random developers; they want games to be taken seriously, and they will only pay for quality,” said a developer with the studio, “I believe that if Disney/Lucas lets LucasArts die, it means the death of Star Wars as a storied franchise is right behind it.” 

The fate of games like Star Wars 1313 is up in the air. A Lucasfilm representative speaking with Game Informer said that the game might be handed off to another developer. Lucasarts did confirm to DT that its games currently on Steam will remain available. 

“It is worth noting that we are looking for proven external partners who can help us provide video games to our fans,” said Lucafilm, “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.”

“[Disney is] evaluating everything. There’s always a possibility that [Star Wars 1313] can still come out via licensing.”

We have reached out to LucasArts for further comment, and will update the article as new information becomes available. 

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Anthony John Agnello
Anthony John Agnello
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…
How to unlock fast travel in Another Crab’s Treasure
Kril with a coconut shell

Another Crab's Treasure is a fantastical soulslike set deep under the ocean where danger lurks around every corner. And like other games in the genre, it's often brutally difficult to overcome the various challenges you'll encounter. As such, you may find yourself wanting to backtrack for level grinding, to uncover new secrets, or to buy additional items in the game's main hub. However, you may notice early in the game that you haven't yet unlocked the ability to fast travel between the multitude of Moon Snail Shells (aka "bonfires") you've found. Here's how and when you'll unlock fast travel.
How to unlock fast travel
In the opening hours of the game, you may notice that you can access your skill tree, which will show a skill called Shelleportation. But you may be discouraged to see that you aren't able to apply any points to it yet. That's because the game doesn't open up this feature until you've advanced a few hours into the story.

To unlock fast travel, you'll need to work your way through the first few main areas of the game until you reach a boss called the Polluted Platoon Pathfinder. After beating this baddie, you'll soon find yourself teleporting to the Moon Snail's Domain. Here, you'll learn about the power of Umami, as well as unlock access to your skill tree.

Read more
Best gaming chair deals: Save on Corsair, Razer, and more
Razer - Iskur Gaming Chair.

Sitting down to play video games for hours and hours can be a lot of fun, but it can also be pretty bad for your health. Beyond just the lack of circulation, most modern chairs are not really made to have us sit in them for long periods, and so they don't offer things like lumbar support or breath to help keep us cool. Luckily, gaming chairs have come to the rescue, and if you're looking to at least help keep your body safe and healthy, going for a gaming chair can make a big difference. That said, gaming chairs can be quite expensive, which is why we've gone out and found some of our favorite gaming chair deals for you to pick from.
Homall Massage Gaming Chair -- $85, was $170

The Homall Massage Gaming Chair is affordable, but it will get the job done of keeping you comfortable while playing video games with its ergonomic design and high-quality PU leather materials. It's got head and waist pillows with a massage function that sets it apart from other cheap gaming chairs. The backrest can recline between 90 degrees and 180 degrees so you can find the perfect angle, and it also has a retractable footrest for an extra sitting position.

Read more
All Fallout games in order, chronologically and by release date
A woman and a dog leaving a vault in Fallout 4.

War never changes. The retrofuturistic apocalypse world of Fallout has graced fans with pretty regular releases since 1997, letting us explore the North American wasteland in the aftermath of a nuclear war in a variety of regions.

It can be a little hard to keep track of the series' timeline if you aren't listening to every holotape in every game and keeping your own log of events. On top of the best Fallout games, we now have to consider where the new Fallout TV show fits in the timeline. We aren't going to get into every timeline detail here (the series' lore is surprisingly deep and detailed) but we will let you know exactly what year every mainline titles takes place in and how you can play them in order.
Fallout games by release date

Read more