R.I.P. LucasArts

[Combo7]

They've sucked for years, but during their golden era they were phenomenal. Some of my most cherished and beloved games were LucasArts games. A piece of my childhood just died.

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/04/03/disne ... lucasarts/

Disney closes LucasArts

Disney, which acquired Lucasfilm and LucasArts last year in a $4.05 billion deal, has shut down the legendary LucasArts division.

"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," Disney informed Game Informer in a statement. "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."

Although a Star Wars game factory in recent years, the publisher will be remembered for its work defining the adventure genre from the '80s to the '90s, on such titles as Maniac Mansion, The Secret of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango and Day of the Tentacle. The soul of those games and that era moved on from the company after the departure of Ron Gilbert and Double Fine's Tim Schafer.

The last announced LucasArts project was Star Wars 1313, but rumors have circulated for months about the action-adventure's halted development. The fate of Star Wars: First Assault, a multiplayer shooter, has been just as unclear.

As for Disney, the company is all-in on Disney Infinity and mobile games, having shut down the last of its core developers.

[Req]

KOTOR, X-Wing, Tie Fighter >>>>>>>>>>>>>

[360]

I'm pretty sure all of their major hits, i.e. KOTOR were 3rd party anyway.

[Tired & Broke]

LucasArts isn't even the important aspect of this article. It needs to be noted that Disney is the damn Devil and the destroy, ruin and change everything they touch. And I mean EVERYTHING!!

[Spartan]

It was bound to happen.

[Balzac]

As much as i love old lucasarts games from my childhood, this is a good thing and better games will come out of it.

[Combo7]

I'm pretty sure all of their major hits, i.e. KOTOR were 3rd party anyway.

WTF

Maniac Mansion
Zak McKracken & the Alien Mindbenders
Loom
The Secret of Monkey Island
Monkey Island 2
Indian Jones and the Last Crusade
Indian Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Super Star Wars and its sequels on SNES
Full Throttle
Dark Forces
Jedi Knight
Rebel Assault 1 & 2
X-Wing, X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter, etc.
Day of the Tentacle
Sam & Max Hit The Road
The Dig
Grim Fandango
Rogue Squadron
Republic Commando

KOTOR and Jedi Outcast were pretty much their only major hits that were third party.

[LilLeftBrain]

endless props for DOTT & the first two monkey islands off that list above. those three consumed a good chunk of childhood

[Tariq's Dilemma]

Full Throttle was my shit back in the day. Dark Forces as well. RIP

[Combo7]

Other hidden gems:

Afterlife - SimCity-style game where you build and manage Heaven and Hell

Outlaws - FPS set in the Wild West

Zombies Ate My Neighbors - Indescribable insanity

[LilLeftBrain]

oh yeah at outlaws. much love for that right there

[360]

I'm pretty sure all of their major hits, i.e. KOTOR were 3rd party anyway.

WTF

Maniac Mansion
Zak McKracken & the Alien Mindbenders
Loom
The Secret of Monkey Island
Monkey Island 2
Indian Jones and the Last Crusade
Indian Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Super Star Wars and its sequels on SNES
Full Throttle
Dark Forces
Jedi Knight
Rebel Assault 1 & 2
X-Wing, X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter, etc.
Day of the Tentacle
Sam & Max Hit The Road
The Dig
Grim Fandango
Rogue Squadron
Republic Commando

KOTOR and Jedi Outcast were pretty much their only major hits that were third party.

I stand completely corrected.

[Combo7]

Perfectly honest mistake. It's weird to think of guys like Tim Schaefer and Ron Gilbert as having once worked for LucasArts.

[907]

Force Unleashed was pretty great too. Dark Forces was my shit as a kid, along with a lot of others mentioned. Sad day in gaming.

[Hayzoos]

Fuckin sucks dude, now we're never gonna see a Star Wars Battlefront 3

[Balzac]

Fuckin sucks dude, now we're never gonna see a Star Wars Battlefront 3

why not?

there will still be star wars games. they will just licence them out to other studios.

or do you mean because the rumours are that battlefront 3 was almost completed so it will now never see the light of day unless another studio re-creates it from scratch?

[Combo7]

Couldn't care less about Battlefront 3, but Star Wars 1313 had the potential to be the best LucasArts game in years.

[LameAim]

Burned a considerable amount of time on Full Throttle, Monkeys Island and Fate of Atlantis. Was just talking about Grim Fandango with a friend earlier today. RIP.

[odium-LSC]

Lucasarts and Sierra took up huge chunks of my childhood. Loom, the Monkey island games, Indiana Jones and the fate of Atlantis and all the other Indiana Jones games, Sam and Max, Grim Fandango, Loom, day of the tentacle and a bunch of the star wars games from back then still to this day count amongst my favorite video games. They had some fantastically creative games way back when. This makes me way more sad than it should right now. R.I.P.

[TeenageMoustache]

To the adventure game nerds:



I doubt Lucas had any idea what these guys were doing with his money so long as they popped out a Star Wars game every year or so. Eventually, that changed, and the Lucas Arts we loved as kids was no more.

They were making great, original titles with characters you could build entire franchises around like it was no big deal. There's a 5-6 year stretch in their history that's pretty much unrivaled.

[Combo7]

Nah, I don't think Lucas was that oblivious. Spielberg was a writer and producer of The Dig, after all. They knew the adventure games were the bread of butter of the company.