The Slowdown: Dark Forces, Rogue Leaders and Goodwill

The Slowdown have posted a new retrospective editorial that discusses LucasArts and the company’s sudden, if not surprising, move to the digital distribution space, noting that while the recent SCUMM releases – taking into account Aaron Giles’ involvement – had a wildly successful launch, the Jedi Knight Collection was released with several glaring issues.

The article also speculates as to what possible effect these errors might have on the players’ view and conception of the company, in turn bringing up and analysing the term of goodwill, and how it might relate to the company’s celebrated – and chequered – past.

While the article especially focuses on Jim Ward’s tenure in-between the years 2004-2008, it also relates to us some of the company’s greatest achievements in citing examples from the book "Rogue Leaders" – also noting that during Ward’s reign, antipathy, worry and fan resentment towards the company’s apparent misdirection was at an all-time high.

Finally, the article discusses what we might expect from the company in the near future.