After acquiring LucasArts and Lucasfilm last year for a hefty price tag of $4.05 billion, Disney has today announced that LucasArts has seen its final days as the legendary publisher is being shut down. In a statement issued to Game Informer, Disney stated that ""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." The quote goes on to say that " 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." Likely best remembered for its memorable work within the adventure game genre with such titles as The Secret of Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle and Grim Fandango, LucasArts has more recently been heavily invested in churning out Star Wars titles that have been met with varying degrees of interest. Franchises like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Star Wars: Battlefront had their moments, but have fallen by the wayside in recent years. On that note, the potential-packed Star Wars 1313 has been rumored to be under the axe for months, but Game Informer also reports that hope is not lost or that particular game. "All of these things happened at once. Naturally, as any company that goes through a big announcement like this, you have to look through your whole portfolio and realign some things," a LucasArts representative stated. "1313 was looking fantastic, the reception has been great. Our other unannounced titles are fine, it just got to a point where from a business standpoint we couldn't continue developing those internally and keep up with the direction that the company was going." While we'll of course keep you posted on further news surrounding Star Wars 1313, we'd like to wish all of those involved with LucasArts a fond farewell as we reflect on the studio's significant impact on the industry. THATS F**KING BULLSH*T!
