Sorry, Star Wars fans, LucasArts needed to go

Digitally Downloaded writes: "Disney is doing the right thing by the franchise by taking control of the license, and by giving it to those developers that can prove they can build quality games around the Star Wars franchise, perhaps we'll see a return to the glory days of the franchise that brought us the likes of Rogue Squadron."

[NYC_Gamer]

Disney made the right choice business and profit wise

[kratos123]

but lets be honest they haven't released anything good this gen and the quality was slipping even further

[Jek_Porkins]

I disagree, I think the first Force Unleashed game was pretty good, and had a fair amount of innovation.

We don't know what Star Wars 1313 could have been, and now we'll never know, but it looked promising, same with First Assault.

[guitarded77]

LucasArts still had the Star Wars license. There's always hope for redemption with Star Wars. 1313 looked great, and a new SWBF game would have won everyone back. TFU was good, but a bit short with some camera issues and repetitive enemies. LA may have had some downs, but they're LA and could have come back with a vengeance. I blame Darrell Rodriguez for F'ing up LA and Disney for not looking at the potential since DR is gone.

[FriedGoat]

Lucasarts haven't made a good game since Grim Fandango. Maybe Tim can but the licence now and make a sequel!

[GREW50ME]

Force Unleashed was terrible. It had epic writing, but it was ruined by the slowest clunkiest mechanics ever.

[DeadlyFire]

Jedi Knight, Outcast, and Academy play better. Sure FU is fun to an extent with powers, but JK series still holds the best way to play with Jedi lightsabers and force powers.

[SilentNegotiator]

It's probably infinitely less risk to license than do things in house with constant staff.

[majiebeast]

Guys it doesnt look like this is the last of the layoffs/closures prepapre yourself for more sad news.

http://i.minus.com/jwwVrIut...

I think IO interactive is on the Square enix chopping block and will get downsized. EA is gonna close or downsize a few more like EA Montreal and the guys who did MoH.

Disney could have totaly turned the studio around but instead took the easy way out , i hate Disney if they buy hasbro its over.

I bet 1 of the 2 evil empires(EA,Activision) will get the Starwars license and there goes the hope of a good starwars game.

[NYC_Gamer]

Disney is a company about business and profit just like the others..There is no such thing as taking the easy way out when have to spend millions of dollars to produce software that's not bringing in proper returns...It's easy for fans to sit back and cast judgment since they aren't the ones spending that huge amount of cash to get things rolling..

[guitarded77]

Which is EXACTLY why GL should have never sold out Star Wars. GL is about $$$ too, but he was very concerned about the image of Star Wars, and it's authenticity. This is a real kick in the nuts for me... Star Wars represents my childhood, and I still look forward to new Star Wars experiences, especially in video games.

[FarCryLover182]

I'm really not sure why EA allowed an Army of Two 3 game out. Never sold well, so why are they laying off workers? Project was dumb to begin with.

[StreetsofRage]

They haven't made a good start wars game in a long time. I picked up star wars galaxies mmo developed by Sony. It sucked. Star wars kinect was so bad it was funny.

Only thing I liked was the sick cut scenes of their games.

[Kran]

Thing is though, just when things started to look good:

First Assault looked brilliant for Battlefront fans and Star Wars 1313 looked quite unique.

But alas... gone. We may never know how good they were... wasn't First Assault due to be released pretty soon though? :/

[OpieWinston]

It was due to release in Fall...
I would've bought it day 1 to give a shot at Battlefront 3.

[GABRIEL1030]

The awful company that buried the creator of the great game Split second Black Rock Studio and now Lucas Arts: Disney...I hate you¡ ... Mickey...this rat :(

[LightofDarkness]

It's fair that Lucasarts went by the wayside, but I implore you to imagine the ones who will take up the mantle. It WILL be Activision or EA, most likely Activision, notorious for brutalizing licenses (007, Spiderman, Tony Hawk, Guitar Hero, numerous Marvel games). Plus, they published the Jedi Knight games made by Raven.

Prepare for a Star Wars COD-alike... except kid friendly.

[Bathyj]

Maybe DICE will make a Battlefront 3.

[Godmars290]

EA has connection to the license, such as it is in their hands.

Also its odd lamenting that only COD type gamers would be made, when aside from 1313, they were practically only making COD type games.

[Bathyj]

People shouldnt start looking at Lucasarts through rose coloured glasses just because they've been closed. Yes its sad, I feel bad for the employees of course, but as far as a games company putting out good games, maybe they should have been closed long ago.

Lets face it, if it werent for the Starwars name behind them, any other company with their track record would have been closed, and its no surprise for a new owner to come in and trim the fat.

And lets not go on like the new game was going to be anything special. It might have been, who knows. Thats the point, we know nothing about it other than it looked pretty. We shouldnt just act like it was fantastic because we cant have it anymore. Reminds me of Overstrike. No one gave a crap about that game, and then suddenly everyone was shattered because it became Fuse.

If anything Starwars fans should be eager to see what new blood in going to tackle the franchise. Someone will get the license. Hopefully someone who loves it and wants to do it justice and wont just milk the name like Lucasarts has been doing for decades. We can only live with A New Hope.

[LastNac]

"mismanaged one of the most valuable IPs in the games industry"
Well Hell, by that logic why is 343i still around?

[Hydralysk]

Probably because Halo: Reach and Halo 4 sold well and were generally well received by the gaming media.

Whether or not you personally like the Halo games they make, the games sell like crazy, and the same can't be said for any LucasArts games in recent memory.

[LastNac]

Hey man, I love all Halos but was very, very dissapointed with Halo 4.

You really don't think 1313 would have sold millions? I certainly think it could.

[Hydralysk]

You might've been disappointed with Halo 4, but it reviewed well on MC and sold a crapton of copies, and for the publishers that's what matters.

1313 might've sold millions, if it turned out good, but the same could've been said of TFU 2. Star Wars games don't automatically sell based on the brand like new GoW, Halo, Madden, CoD, Uncharted, Battlefield, or *insert blizzard franchise* games, probably because the setting has been milked continuously for the past 2 and 1/2 decades. So unless it's a damn sure hit why would they take the risk? Especially in a climate where AAA games that sell millions still can't be called financial successes by the people funding them?

[mrdeli]

TIE Fighter is my all-time favourite videogame. Maybe i have Lawrence Holland to thank more than Lucasarts, but still, it's a very sad day.

[GiulMastr36]

When was the last time LucasArts even released a good game anyways? TFU was decent but that's about it. Still, 1313 looked promising, who knows.