Disney has decided to shut down LuscasArts studio, its game-publishing division, after last year's acquisition of Lucasfilm. Staff was laid off, informed about the shutdown Wednesday, leaving the fate of current game projects Star Wars: First Assault and Star Wars 1313 in limbo.
LucasArts was at its peak during the mid-1990s, known for adventure games such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones. The studio shutdown changes the company into a licensing entity and Disney will still use the LucasArts name for that purpose.
Rumors involving the studio were swirling around for months and, as Kotaku reports, Star Wars 1313 may also be scrapped, according to a source.
"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," Lucasfilm, the parent company for LucasArts, said in a statement.
Game Informer reported that Star Wars 1313, along with other projects that are in development, may still be safe. Although it appears sudden, a representative from Lucasfilm said that the closing of LucasArts was being discussed since Disney acquired the publisher in last year's deal.
"It is worth noting that we are looking for proven external partners who can help us provide video games to our fans. We still believe in the video game industry, we still will provide Star Wars games, we're just looking at different models rather than internal production... They're evaluating everything. There's always a possibility that it [Star Wars 1313] can still come out via licensing," the rep said.
Star Wars 1313 has been in development for some time and the extended trailer for the anticipated game was released last summer.
Read more: LucasArts Reveals Star Wars 1313
