From our friend "Master Devwi":

"I wanted to let you guys know that Kotaku is reporting a rumor that LucasArts may be having problems. In the article, it says that about 100 employees have recently been laid off, including some long-time employees. These problems may affect the development schedule of, according to one rumored ex-employee, KOTOR 3, Battlefront 3, the Indiana Jones game (like TFU), and a lightsaber game for the Wii. Fortunately, according to the rumor, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Fracture are too far along in the development process to be affected by the changes at LucasArts, though one rumored ex-employee says Fracture is “an absolute piece of garbage.” You can find more details and read the entire article on Kotaku.

This rumor comes after the recent news that Jim Ward left LucasArts due to problems with the company."

No confirmation has come out of LucasArts as of yet though we will try to get an official word on Monday. If the rumors are true, then some good people are most likely out of work and we surely feel for them during some turbulent economic times. More as we hear it!


Thanks "Master Devwi"!


UPDATE: Kotaku has gotten confirmation from LucasArts on the layoffs. See the excerpts below:

'"I can confirm we had layoffs yesterday they were in the studio," said LucasArts spokeswoman Margaret Grohne. "They had to do with where we are in our product life cycles."

Yesterday a number of former LucasArts staffers contacted us to say that 75 to 100 employees were laid off from the company, including VP of Product Development Peter Hirschmann and the producer of LEGO Indiana Jones and LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, Shawn Storc.

The layoffs come months after former president Jim Ward stepped down from heading the company and was replaced by Darrell Rodriguez, a former Electronic Arts COO...

"We are healthy," she (Margaret Grohne) said. "LEGO Indie was launched on seven platforms to positive reviews, The Force Unleashed and Fracture are on track for this fall. We have a good slate of games and we have some good stuff going on in production.

"We are definitely committed to the internal studio."'

Make sure to click here for the full article and also here for their in depth follow up analysis; "Analyst: LucasArts Layoffs About EA, Studio Politics."


UPDATE #2: Joystiq.com is reporting that the LucasArts layoffs have now hit some members of The Force Unleashed team, some of whom were long standing fixtures in the company. Given comments of being "committed to the internal studio," this is certainly an interesting time for LucasArts, to say the least. Click here for the full article and we'll keep you updated as we hear more.

Thanks "Master Devwi."