Disney have closed up the LucasArts game studio, unexpectedly cancelling all forthcoming games and laying off all employees, it was reported in the last few days.
Disney will still take advantage of the LucasArts name to license games, but the studio will not be developing any new games and all existing products have been scrapped.
The multimedia entertainment corporation, which purchased LucasArts, along with the movie company Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4.05 Billion, informed the employees of their decision this morning. The move is expected to force about a hundred and fifty employees into unemployment.
A spokesperson for Disney said, “After evaluating our situation within the games market, we have decided to move LucasArts from an inside development to a licensing business model, minimizing the company’s risk while achieving a broader collection of quality Star Wars games.”
LucasArts was a outstanding games designer, principally acknowledged for creating Star Wars tie-in games (two of which, ‘Star Wars 1313’ and ‘Star Wars: First Assault’ are high profile victims of this shutdown).
The corporation was moreover extremely influential to the expansion of the ‘adventure games’ genre in the 80’s and 90’s, producing such notable works as ‘The Secret of Monkey Island’, ‘Grim Fandango’ and ‘Maniac Mansion’.
Gamer response continues to be vocal and damning, with angry blogs, Facebook updates and Tweets hitting the net within hours of the announcement.
Regardless of the outcry, this move isn’t without precedent. Last September LucasArts blocked all employing and extra product bulletins, an action which came right before the corporation’s sale to Disney the next month.
However, throughout the initial buyout, Disney had confirmed that all employees would remain in their present positions. Immediately subsequent the changeover, a company spokesperson is reported as saying that “for the time being all initiatives are business as usual. We are excited about all the possibilities that Disney brings.”
Although the company’s previous few game titles had received mixed reviews and only small sales success, hopes were high for their upcoming releases.
It is conceivable that Disney will outsource the development of the products to other studios, but it seems more likely that the company will now put its efforts towards licensing various tie-in titles for that as-yet unnamed ‘Star Wars VII’, film scheduled for release in 2015.
Sources:
http://www.shacknews.com/article/76439/lucasarts-acquired-by-disney
http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/03/disney-closes-lucasarts/
http://kotaku.com/disney-shuts-down-lucasarts-468473749
The Empire Strikes Again: Disney Closes LucsArts, sacks all employees
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