Reaction Roundup: Disney's LucasArts Shutdown

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The reactions to Disney's closure of LucasArts were swift and numerous. We're compiling them here and will continue to update this post as new reactions and analysis comes across our radar.

Tosche Station: The Fate of LucasArts was a Decade in the Making

While a glance through their catalog reveals a studio that has had more success than the vast majority of their competitors, a deeper look reveals that LucasArts set themselves on a risky path nearly a decade ago.

Kotaku: When It Comes To LucasArts, Our Nostalgia Is Worthless

The most tragic thing about the closure of LucasArts is the loss of jobs, no question. But when the dust settles, when those that were made redundant finally settle into new jobs, new lives, what will hurt, and continue to hurt, is the legacy of lost work. Years of graft by hundreds of human beings passionate about their jobs . They will never enjoy the fruits of their labour, share that work with family, friends or the general public. That work will remain buried inside some dusty server in a locked room, never to be seen again. That's a genuine cause for sadness.

Kotaku: A Thousand Voices Cry Out for LucasArts, in Eulogies of 140 Characters

...it's not much of a surprise that LucasArts is a globally trending topic on Twitter right now as those in the games industry, those who write about it, and fans who play them, take to social media to pay their respects, and make known their regrets about LucasArts' end as a developer of games. Here are several.

Kotaku: Lucasarts Closing Down Could Be A Good Thing (From A Certain Point Of View)

Disney aren't the bad guys here. Once you've squeezed out your requisite levels of nostalgia over the company's demise - and given Lucasarts' illustrious back catalogue, that's going to take some time - move on from thinking about what Lucasarts were and think about what they are. Well. Were more recently.

Kotaku: Tim Schafer, One of the Most Celebrated Game Creators in LucasArts History, Pays Tribute

The man led the creation of Grim Fandango and Full Throttle and helped make other beloved LucasArts games including The Secret of Monkey Island. Today, LucasArts is all but no more, shuttered as a development studio by its new owners at Disney and turned into a licensing house. Tim Schafer, now running things at Double Fine, shared his thoughts about the shutdown with Kotaku.

Ars Technica: Looking back at our favorite LucasArts gaming classics

If you made a list of each and every one of the memorable games that LucasArts has given us throughout the years and added a description of what made them special, you could easily fill a small book. [...] Still, we felt the need to highlight a few of our favorite moments from the last three decades of LucasArts games in our own far-from-comprehensive list:

Ron Gilbert, early LucasArts employee: Goodbye Lucasfilm Games

It's hard for me not to be sad. I haven't worked there since 1992, but it was still home to me. I grew up there. I learned just about everything I know about designing games there. I became a real programmer there. I made lifelong friends there. Eight of the most memorable and influential years of my life were spent there. I would not be who I am today without Lucasfilm Games.

The Guardian: LucasArts: closed by Disney, but killed by Star Wars?

It's a sad day for the games industry as another veteran closes. The big question is whether the Star Wars brand was a shining treasure or an albatross around the studio's neck

VentureBeat: LucasArts' mixed legacy: A breeding ground for great games and designers that relied too much on Star Wars

"The main message is that large media companies are still leery of major involvement in the game business. Disney bought Lucas for Star Wars. LucasArts just came along with the package, but it didn't really fit into Disney's strategy."

Joystiq: Remembering the life and legend of LucasArts

Although LucasArts may be best known for its Star Wars games -- starting as the gaming branch of Lucasfilm, George Lucas' production company -- the developer's biggest successes in the 1980s were point-and-click adventure games. The classic Maniac Mansion, released in 1987, introduced the SCUMM engine, that would provide the model for most of their two-dimensional adventure games (including several Indiana Jones games, Loom, Day Of The Tentacle, and The Dig).

ReadWrite: The Force Was Never With LucasArts

...the real reason for Disney's shuttering of LucasArts was foretold many years ago in that cinematic classic Spaceballs: "Merchandising. Merchandising. Merchandising."

IGN: Who Should Develop Games For LucasArts?

With LucasArts closed, and internal development ceased, the studio has become a licensing house for others to borrow brands and create new games. With that in mind, the IGN editors convened to fantasize about what the future might hold -- obviously the completion of Star Wars: 1313 would make sense if, say, Crystal Dynamics picked up development. Of course DICE would do a great Battlefront reboot. But we wanted to explore less obvious options.

ComputerAndVideoGames.com: We remember LucasArts

In order to pay tribute to this once great studio, we rounded up CVG staff members, our fellow Future Publishing writers and our readers on Facebook and asked them one simple question - what was your favourite LucasArts game and why? The variety of answers is a testament to the range of quality titles LucasArts has provided over the past 30 years.

The Telegraph: A Farewell To LucasArts

One of the most beloved game developers of the 90s finally has its lights turned off. Richard Cobbett lights a candle in remembrance.

Canada.com: LucasArts' prime passed a long time ago

The outrage over Disney’s recent closure of LucasArts is almost completely unwarranted. Sure, at one point the studio created amazing video games, but that was a long time ago. LucasArts definitely holds an important place in video game history, but the studio/publisher hasn’t been very relevant for the last few years.

And lastly, for a broader take on the situation at Lucasfilm...

io9: Is Disney about to destroy the Star Wars Expanded Universe Altogether?

When Disney first announced their acquisition of Star Wars, fans were trepidatious. What changes would they make to the Star Wars universe? Then Disney announced the new movies, including a sequel trilogy and stand-alone films, and fans were ecstatic. But now that Disney has killed LucasArts, we're seeing the Dark Side of Disney's Star Wars -- and this is probably only the beginning. Lando Calrissian said it best: "This deal keeps getting worse all the time."

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Related Stories:

Introducing Lucasfilm Games
Kotaku Examines What Went Wrong At LucasArts

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