Threepwood4life Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 from Kotaku New Lucasarts president Paul Meegan certainly isn't wasting any time. Barely two months into the job and we hear he's already swinging the axe and cancelling high profile sequels. If you were wondering why it was strange that Force Unleashed II creative director Haden Blackman would leave mid-project, this may explain things: according to sources at Lucasarts, Meegan has cancelled a third Force Unleashed game that was already in development, and members of Force Unleashed II's team (though we're not sure exactly how many) will be shown the door once that game ships. Another unnamed project, due to ship next year, has avoided the axe, but has been "put on hold" while developers have been told to "expect management and reporting changes". Those changes are down to the departure of Blackman, who as work was winding down on Force Unleashed II had been leading development on this secret project. These sources say "morale and productivity are at all-time lows" since Meegan took over, with most Lucasarts developers only finding out about Force Unleashed II's cancellation on the PSP by reading it on gaming news sites. We've also been told that another sweeping change made by Meegan is that the majority of "external" development of Lucasarts properties is coming to an end, with BioWare's Old Republic MMO to be the last game not developed internally at Lucasarts. That would presumably mean, for example, no more LEGO Star Wars or LEGO Indiana Jones titles after the upcoming LEGO: Clone Wars, as those have all been handled by Traveller's Tales. So, yes, if this is all indeed correct, big changes are afoot at the house that Star Wars built. Lots of them bad news for the developers currently there, but looking at the big picture, the silver lining could be that such drastic shake-ups could be exactly what's needed at a publisher and developer that, courtesy of its licenses and history, should be doing a lot better both commercially and critically than it currently is. We've contacted Lucasarts for comment, and will update if we hear back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elTee Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 So you actually are an avid kotaku reader! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Threepwood4life Posted August 17, 2010 Author Share Posted August 17, 2010 Sometimes, but I usually read Eurogamer more it depends if Kotaku has anyhting worth mentioning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tingler Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 Just posted this on the front page (saw it before I saw this thread). The most horrifying aspect of this being true would mean that a Tales of Monkey Island Season Two would not happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey Mania Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 So be it. Bring on Monkey Island 5(6) then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truJedi Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 WHAT THE HELL !!!! sounds like these guys realllyy need to start getting their act together. this isnt the first time this sort of thing has happend, ( reffering to the huge lay off's and cut backs they did at the time of cancelling kotor 3..) I think this is gonna suck big time for fans like us .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey Mania Posted August 17, 2010 Share Posted August 17, 2010 echos of Sam and Max 2.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicallyInspired Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 We knew it couldn't last....this can only get much better or much worse. I'm betting it'll be much worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tingler Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 Either the rumours are completely untrue, or if only partially true the situation is very bad for the new LucasArts we were starting to like again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kroms Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 It's not worth fussing over. Okay, yeah. It could suck. For a year or so, things were starting to look more positive for LucasArts. But it's just a rumour. Are we really going to get our panties in a bunch over a rumour? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tingler Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 When it comes to LucasArts, most of what we know is rumour. Those rumours still turn out to be painfully true more often than not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truJedi Posted August 18, 2010 Share Posted August 18, 2010 yessss....very very paaaiiiinfullllll... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snugglecakes Posted August 19, 2010 Share Posted August 19, 2010 I told you so Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Threepwood4life Posted September 1, 2010 Author Share Posted September 1, 2010 Apparently Kotaku has now posted that there are rumours there will be job cuts at LucasArts later today http://kotaku.com/5627266/rumor-job-cuts-at-lucasarts?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kotaku%2Ffull+%28Kotaku%29&utm_content=Twitter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jp-30 Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 Well, at least they indicate that the shutting down of external development rumour may have been false. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/090110-lucasarts-confirms-staff.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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