Today will be a sad, sad day for gamers around the world as reports are trickling in of Disney officially closing the doors to LucasArts.
According to Kotaku, it all started last September:
Last September, when executives at LucasFilm—the parent company of LucasArts—found out that Disney had signed an agreement to purchase the company, things got murky. LucasFilm froze all hiring and new game announcements, our source says.”
So it looks like it was a long time coming, and today Disney confirmed speculations releasing the following official statement:
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.”
So LucasArts will cease development on games, but will still brand items from the Star Wars franchise. This will also be the end of two highly anticipated Star Wars games, Star Wars 1313 and Star Wars: First Assault.
What do you think about the closure? Let us know in the comments!