The LucasArts you knew is no more

The video game developer and publisher that brought out classics like The Secret of Monkey Island and many games in the Star Wars universe is, effectively, no more. LucasArts' new owner, the Walt Disney Company, is shutting down all internal development at the company and seemingly turning it into a licensing house for its existing properties, according to an official statement. The titles it had in development, including two Star Wars games, have been cancelled, and many employees -- it's not clear how many, though rumors say 150, the majority of the staff -- are now out of work. The statement in full reads as follows: "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. 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." The shutdown had been rumored for some time now, though the LucasArts developers we spoke to during GDC seemed hopeful that operations would continue. It is unclear exactly what is left of LucasArts at this point, but we're following up to hopefully find out.