Disney shutters LucasArts, Star Wars 1313 canceled [Update]

Disney has closed Star Wars game developer LucasArts, and with it, Star Wars 1313 and Star Wars: First Assault, the company has confirmed.

“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,” a LucasArts representative told Game Informer. “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.”

According to a Kotaku report, some 150 people were laid off in the closure.

Update: Though currently canceled, Star Wars 1313 could still be saved, according to a LucasArts representative.

“All of these things happened at once,” the rep told Game Informer. “Naturally, as any company that goes through a big announcement like this, you have to look through your whole portfolio and realign some things. 1313 was looking fantastic, the reception has been great. Our other unannounced titles are fine, it just got to a point where from a business standpoint we couldn’t continue developing those internally and keep up with the direction that the company was going.

“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.”