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…
Best PlayStation Plus Deals: Save on Essential, Plus and Premium
Best PS Plus deals

While the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 are excellent consoles, especially for those who don't want to invest in a gaming PC, you tend to lose out on a lot if you don't have one of Sony's online subscriptions. You see, a PlayStation Plus (PS Plus) subscription offers, is access to online multiplayer, and without it, you can't connect to online servers and play with other folks, which is a bit frustrating. Luckily, a PS Plus membership does offer some additional features, such as free games every month and access to some older PS games, all of which depend on which of the three tiers you subscribe to: Essential, Extra, and Premium.
What is PlayStation Plus?
Along with online multiplayer and other in-game network features, a PlayStation Plus Essential membership grants you access to exclusive discounts and other promotions. Perhaps the most notable benefit of PlayStation Plus is that every month, Sony gives subscribers one PlayStation 5 and two PlayStation 4 games that are free to download. You have one month to add these free PlayStation Plus games to your library.

After that, these titles are yours to keep so long as you have an active PlayStation Plus subscription. The free-to-download games are generally pretty good (they are often some of the best PS4 games that have been out for a little while), and these alone justify the cost of PS Plus even for people who don't do a lot of online gaming.

Read more
Where to find Burnt Books in Fallout 76
Raiders in Fallout 7 fighting near fire.

Crafting is as important a mechanic in Fallout 76 as shooting and looting. As is the case with every Bethesda game, you will be collecting every item in the world that isn't nailed down to use for parts until you're over--encumbered. Being a live service game, you will often also be tasked with hunting down a specific material or item as part of a daily or weekly challenge. One fairly common one is to find burnt books. There are a few smaller stashes of these singed paperbacks around Appalachia, but one location in particular is the mother lode. There are no libraries in the wasteland, but we know the location of the secret stashwhere you'll find all the burnt books you could want.
Where to find burnt books

There are several locations that have a handful of burnt books, but there's one that has well over 100 in a single location. To fill your bookshelves in a single trip, head over to Summersville and go to the house at the location shown on the map. Take out the ghouls outside and enter the house. Whoever lived there must've been quite the book enthusiast as there are stacks of burnt books to loot on each floor of the house. Once trip here and you will complete your quest and stock up on as many burnt books as you need.

Read more
All Teddy Bear locations in Fallout 76
A teddy bear in a train station in Fallout 76.

There's no shame in admitting that you enjoy the company of a teddy bear in Fallout 76 over the ghouls and mutants. In fact, we would probably prefer spending time finding these cuddly bears than playing with the other players, but these stuffed animals are a rare commodity in the wasteland. Technically, these are classified as a junk item that you can break down for materials, but who would do something like that? These are great display items to make your camp feel more like home, or just another annoying daily task you need to complete. Whatever your motivations are, here is where you can find each of the different teddy bear variations in Fallout 76.
All teddy bear locations
There are 12 different variations of teddy bears that all have a distinct color pattern, name, and value, but are otherwise identical. Like most items, they can be found in a ton of places around the map, but these are the easiest spots to get the one you're looking for.
Bubblegum Bear

Our first bear is going to be inside the Foundation. Once inside, go to Ward's trailer and pick it up off the couch.
Camden Park Bears

Read more