Post by Templar on Apr 3, 2013 15:05:12 GMT -6
NEWS
Disney Shuts Down LucasArts, Cancels Star Wars 1313 And Star Wars: First Assault [Updated]
JASON SCHREIER
TODAY 7:00 AM
Disney has laid off the staff of LucasArts and cancelled all current projects. Staff were involved of the shutdown this morning, according to a reliable Kotaku source. Some 150 people were laid off, and both of the studio’s current projects — Star Wars: First Assault and Star Wars 1313 — were cancelled. Disney will still use the LucasArts name to license games, but the studio is no more.
Publicly, Disney is saying its current games could be licensed out to a different publisher or developer. According to our source, however, that’s unlikely. Our source says Lucas has pursued the option for “one or both games”, but nothing happened. “With the teams now basically being dispersed I think both games are effectively dead forever,” our source said.
A second source also told Kotaku this afternoon that the chances of Lucas licensing out 1313 are very slim. The odds are “effectively zero,” the source said.
“After evaluating our position in the games market, we’ve decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimising the company’s risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games,” LucasArts parent company LucasFilm said in a statement. “As a result of this change, we’ve had layoffs across the organisation. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles.”
This comes after weeks and months of rumours involving the studio, which was acquired by Disney last year. In September 2012, LucasArts put a freeze on all hiring and product announcements, which many staff saw as the beginning of the end. In February 2013, we started hearing rumours that the studio might be shuttered. Today, it’s official: the iconic development house is gone.
Read the full report here---->http://www.kotaku.com.au/2013/04/disney-shuts-down-lucasarts-cancels-star-wars-1313-and-star-wars-first-assault/