Wed, Aug 18, 2010 | 04:54 BST
Rumor: New LucasArts president cancels Force Unleashed III, morale and productivity at “all time lows”
“I have a bad feeling about this.”
It doesn’t take a highly attuned Force user to see that something’s amiss at LucasArts. After all, executive producers don’t just up and leave their sequels to the most successful Star Wars game of all time every day. So, how bad is it? According to a report from Kotaku, Darth Vader “NOOOOOOO” bad.
First up, new LucasArts president Paul Meegan apparently hit the kill switch on the already in-development Star Wars: The Force Unleashed III, which likely explains why Haden Blackman flew the coop. In addition, the Force Unleashed II team will probably not reach the end of its development cycle fully intact.
Another “top secret” project is said to be on hold, with its developers told to “expect management and reporting changes” – mostly as a result of Blackman’s departure.
Apparently, Meegan’s tearing up his company’s old highway to pave way for a new, more internally focused one. Did Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones resurrect your long thought dead inner child? Too bad. Those franchises are done, according to unnamed sources. In fact, Star Wars: The Old Republic will be LucasArts’ last externally developed game.
As a result of, you know, the sky falling, LucasArts’ morale and productivity are said to be at “all time lows.”
We’ll get in touch with LucasArts and see if things are actually as bad as they sound.
20 comments
#1
frostquake
18/08/10, 5:49 am
Darth Vader in the Pic above is doing his best Babe Ruth Impression..he is pointing out to Right Field where he is going to hit a Home run with Luke Skywalkers Head…
#2
DarkElfa
18/08/10, 6:01 am
New Meegan, Lucasarts hasn’t made a great game since it was founded and the way your handling things it most likely won’t get better.
#3
freedoms_stain
18/08/10, 7:04 am
Just reboot Kyle Katarn already.
TFU may have been the most successful Star Wars game ever but Jedi Knight II and Jedi Outcast were far more fun games.
#4
Hunam
18/08/10, 7:37 am
All the best Star Wars games were made by other people. Like the X-Wing series and the Kotor series. The only good one Lucasarts made was Jedi Knight.
#5
Freek
18/08/10, 7:50 am
All the Star Wars games that have been good came from outside the company. Infact, these days, if you want good Star Wars “anything”, then the less Lucas Arts has to do with it, the better it is.
#6
mojo
18/08/10, 8:11 am
BRING BATTLEFRONT 3 U TOOLS°!!
i know it gets annoying to contantly repeat this, but they just dont learn..
#7
Zarckan
18/08/10, 8:25 am
Hang on, didn’t we hear the same after the first one was approaching launch?!
#8
rainer
18/08/10, 8:32 am
It’s like Lucasarts is stuck in a loop, political infighting is legendary at the management level of it and the parent Lucasfilm. Probably why Darrell Rodriguez and his management team where forced out.
Now Paul Meegan is tearing everything down, canceling future development projects, firing internal dev staff after Rodriguez cleaned house to make Lucasarts more leaner but also canceling external development. No more Tales of Monkey Island or Lego Star Wars.
Who’s going to be left at Lucasarts to actually make games ?
#9
James Mac
18/08/10, 8:35 am
If he’s not too busy firing people… could he find the time to order development of a new X Wing / TIE Fighter game?
#10
Blerk
18/08/10, 8:59 am
What the hell’s going on here, then? Hasn’t he just cancelled every series that’s actually made them any money in the last ten years?
#11
Aimless
18/08/10, 9:07 am
Didn’t Clint Hocking start working at LucasArts last week? I wonder if this affects him.
#12
f1r3storm
18/08/10, 9:23 am
This doesn’t make sense at all? The LEGO games and TFU are pretty successful, aren’t they?
#13
Thalius
18/08/10, 9:24 am
Force Unleashed was the best thing that came out of lucasarts in the last few years…
What are these people thinking???????
#14
Dannybuoy
18/08/10, 9:29 am
May the P45 be with you
#15
mington
18/08/10, 9:40 am
@14
#16
justiceblob
18/08/10, 9:43 am
sounds like the new lucasasrts manager is a self absorbeb cun…. Oh wait.
#17
GitForceGemini
18/08/10, 10:07 am
Why would I buy TFU2 now that it’s going to be left on a cliffhanger?
#18
Yoshi
18/08/10, 10:39 am
Maybe they should get off their fat arses and finish TFU2 before starting on TFU3, then realise not many people want it then finally start on Battlefront 3
#19
freedoms_stain
18/08/10, 11:08 am
@17, they can always alter the ending.
TFU didn’t even need a sequel storywise. It slotted fairly nicely into the Star Wars universe and it had a definite ending.
#20
LOLshock94
18/08/10, 9:09 pm
what a prick