Unofficial Tex Murphy

http://kotaku.com/5013987/lucasarts-con ... ll-healthy

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/06/lucas ... velopment/

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/53044


It seems as though Lucasarts have been having huge layoffs in the last few weeks. While they say that development is "healthy", it's quite a leap (or drop) for a gaming studio that was at the peak of its form in the 1990's and creating ground-breaking games. Apart from an upcoming Indiana Jones game, there was little speculation about what is around the corner for them. Surely not another bastardisation of the Star Wars fanchise?

I'm really not surprised with this. Since the early 2000's, Lucasart's output has declined significantly. Their development was at its peak in the 1990s with classics such as The Dig, Sam and Max, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Full Throttle, Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle and Dark Forces. To this day those are some of my favourite games of all time. PC Gaming was at its peak back then, in the same way classic rock 'n' roll was in the 1960's with The Beatles, Rolling Stones and The Who.

To see Lucasarts finally take a fall doesn't surprise me, which is a shame because for a good decade they had an undefeatable formula. Was the praise of Grim Fandango not enough?

Joel wrote:Was the praise of Grim Fandango not enough?

The thing is, there are over 6 billion people in the world, and we all have different tastes. Yes, to us adventure folks, Grim Fandango was definitely one of the creams of the crop, but to many video game players who are not adventure game fans, I'm sure G.F. did not make any difference. It all just boils down to what each individual likes. At it seems, as well all have noted, that the adventure genre seems to be a dying breed.

Hopefully this will be a kick in the butt for them to get their act together.

They are just taking a hit like almost every other major company in the US right now... I doubt it is anything to really worry about...
Their sales are hurting like most other companies because people are afraid the economy isn't going to bounce back, so they aren't purchasing things like they normally would... Also with the raise in Gas, Food, among other Goods, money is getting tight for a lot of people, a lot of people meaning about 70% of Lucasarts' Customer Base... So therefore, just like GM, United Air, and many others, they are making cuts to make sure they don't go too far into the Red...

Part of the problem is they have been beating the Star Wars horse for far too long now. Basicly they gave up on developing lines outside of their movie franchise and as popular as Star Wars and Indy is they cant support a gaming company as large as Lucasarts forever.

I think they just decided that they only wanted to use games to be adjuncts to their movie business. In that line of thinking its just more affordable to have others create games for your lines and sell them for you.


Its sad but its been a long time coming.

they did produce Lego Indiana Jones very recently... which is a fun game in my opinion.

-Cub. =o)

Here's me thinking they just trimmed away the people who made Force Unleashed since the game is done and they are not needed anymore...

-Fred

"they did produce Lego Indiana Jones very recently... which is a fun game in my opinion."


Yep but is another game that supports their movie line. They pretty much have given up on producing anyhing that doesnt directly support a movie they own or are producing. So instead of seeing the division as a business in of its self I think they see it as simply a marketing tool. In that vein its cheeper simply to license future games to other makers get the same result and still make a certain profit from the license.


Or in other words they see their Video games as they see their related toy lines. Their primary role is to expand or maintain their customer base, recruit new\young customers.