As if to follow up on the High Moon Studios layoffs we reported on yesterday, it has come to light that Disney has closed LucasArts. In a statement released by the company, a shift from internal development to a licensing model was detailed:
“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.”
While talking to Polygon, LucasArts stated that they will handing game development over to 3rd party studios and are looking into other ways of releasing Star Wars 1313 and some of their other titles. This echos what Game Informer got from a LucasArts representative in an interview earlier today:
“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.”
According to Kotaku, at least 150 employees have been affected.