LucasArts, the game publisher and developer behind two decades of games, is being shut down by Disney, according to a release sent out Wednesday afternoon.
Disney plans to shift from developing games internally to licensing franchises like Star Wars and Indiana Jones to other developers. The LucasArts statement, received by GameInformer, reads:
“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. 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.”
This also means current games in development by LucasArts have been scrapped, including Star Wars 1313, which had a very impressive tech demo at 2012’s E3.
LucasArts was founded in 1982, and achieved great success in the 1990s for its point-and-click adventure games like The Secret of Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle and Full Throttle. In the last decade, the company has focused on more licensed Star Wars titles, including Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.
We will bring you more details as we receive them. Stay tuned to TMSM for updates!
Michele also contributes theme park news for Fox 35 Orlando 11pm news and on the radio on WDBO.
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