Home Gaming So, LucasArts is dead…

So, LucasArts is dead…

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Myfacerightnow

We’ve already told you that the incredible looking Star Wars 1313 has been canned, but the more important bit of that news is that LucasArts, as a game development studio, no longer exists. We’ve reported on a number development studio closures this generations, but I don’t think any of them have hit me right in the childhood quite like this.

lucasarts

I have fond recollections of booting up games and being greeted with that little golden guy, so ubiquitous in the 90’s. So many of my very favourite games, still so firmly rooted in memory, came courtesy of the teams at Lucasarts; the finest purveyors of point-and-click adventure games to have ever existed. Here are the ones that meant most to me.

It all started, for me at least, with this in 1987, Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick’s hilarious  adventure game tribute to B-grade horror flicks, Maniac Mansion.

Mansion

The game that really made me fall in love with LucasArts as an adventure game developer though was 1990’s SCUMMY tale of a pirate inept, the delightful Guybrush Threepwood in The Secret of Monkey Island and, of course, its follow-up, LeChuck’s revenge the next year.

Monkey

Obviously an adventure game factory, LucasArts gave us the licenced title, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis the very next year – which is still a better Indy experience than that shark-jumping, fridge-nuking Crystal Skull nonsense.

Indy

Maniac Mansion of course, gave rise to a sequel, Day of the Tentacle, this time under Tim Shafer and Dave Grossman, which in 1993 was one of the very first boxed video game products I’d ever bought – and still stands as one of the funniest, smartest games of its ilk.

Day-of-the-Tentacle-screenshot-1

That same year also gave us LucasArts take on comic-book anti-hero Dog and psychotic rabbit duo Sam and Max, in Hit the Road. I will never forget that giant ball of twine.

243923-samandmax4

I don’t think much needs to be said about Tim Shafer’s Full Throttle, released in 1995; which I’m sure is a favourite of yours too. Bikers, Hard Rock and Point and click shenanigans? That we never got to see more, despite numerous announced (but ultimately cancelled) sequels is one of gaming’s biggest travesties.   “Help me Ben, You’re my only hope!

FullThrottle

This is but a small sample of the company’s many adventure games, with other titles like 1995’s The Dig and the last real adventure game they produced, Grim Fandango as some of the last testaments of a genre that was, until revived by Telltale Games, essentially dead.

“Even though part of me felt this was coming, I’m still, somehow, shocked,” former LucasArts genius Tim Shafer told Kotaku. “I never thought that Lucas would actually shut down. I feel badly for all the talented people there. LucasArts was my first job in the industry. And sad to see all that history go away. And all that concept art. I’m going to be dumpster diving behind their offices for a while to see if I can find any old Full Throttle concept art.”

And of course, there are the many, many Star Wars games; to numerous to even list, but including those old space combat gems like X-Wing and Tie Fighter and more modern ones like the N64’s excellent Rogue Squadron – to shooters like Dark Forces and its Jedi Knight sequels and more multiplayer shooters like Battlefront.

Though it could be reasonably argued that LucasArts hasn’t really produced much of worth in the last decade, it’s still a dark day for gaming, and the gaming industry as a whole. More unfortunate is that the last two games released bearing the LucasArts name were Angry Birds: Star Wars, and the frankly terrible Kinect Stars Wars.

What a way to end a legacy.

Tell us, what’s your favourite LucasArts Memory?

Last Updated: April 4, 2013

50 Comments

  1. James Philip Lawrence

    April 4, 2013 at 09:04

    jedi acadamy 🙁

    Reply

  2. Admiral Chief Erwin

    April 4, 2013 at 09:12

    This HAS to be some sort of sick belated April fools joke, it just has to!

    Reply

  3. Martin du preez

    April 4, 2013 at 09:15

    My fav ever: Grimm Fandango,Star wars: Rogue squadron and The Battlefront games. Seriously fuck you Mickey mouse.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief Erwin

      April 4, 2013 at 09:26

      Grimm was the bloody best!

      Reply

  4. Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

    April 4, 2013 at 09:17

    This has to be the worst shutdown ever. I grew up during their golden age of games. This is seriously a sad day 🙁

    Reply

    • umar bastra

      April 4, 2013 at 09:28

      Indeed I share your pain

      Reply

    • Admiral Chief Erwin

      April 4, 2013 at 09:31

      4th april 2013, the day my heart broke
      At least they didnt do it on 4 may….

      Reply

    • Kobus Nel

      April 4, 2013 at 09:43

      Yeah, I feel ya. Even more sad is that I saw this coming. Disney taking over and the inevitable SWTOR fail, just made me feel that things are heading in a bad direction 🙁

      Reply

  5. Matewis Jubilai

    April 4, 2013 at 09:18

    rubber chicken with pully in the middle

    Reply

  6. Trebzz

    April 4, 2013 at 09:22

    Its dead like Dawsons Crack o.O

    Reply

  7. Admiral Chief Erwin

    April 4, 2013 at 09:25

    *sniff*
    Jedi Knight
    🙁

    Reply

    • Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

      April 4, 2013 at 09:37

      Nevermore 🙁

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief Erwin

        April 4, 2013 at 09:38

        Man, would have killed for JK4!!!! I’d even go so far to say give JK to Activision so that we can get yearly releases!

        Reply

        • Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

          April 4, 2013 at 09:44

          Woah, that is desperate 0_o

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief Erwin

            April 4, 2013 at 10:35

            I AM DESPERATE FOR MOAR JEDI KNIGHT GAMES

          • Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

            April 4, 2013 at 10:41

            Well, it’s over. It’s not happening. Sorry man 🙁 I know, I know. It’s a bitter pill to swallow. I am struggling with this myself

        • Slade Boender

          April 4, 2013 at 09:59

          SIES!

          Reply

  8. umar bastra

    April 4, 2013 at 09:26

    Good bye old friend and thank you for the great memories you have given me growing up … your point and click adventures opened up a new world to me, where games were more than just a Hi-Score …. R.I.P

    Reply

    • Jonah Cash

      April 4, 2013 at 10:53

      This game is one of my all time favourite games ever….. Will have to play it over the weekend as a tribute to Ben!!!

      Reply

  9. umar bastra

    April 4, 2013 at 09:31

    We’re ready to set sail, ’though the cannons need a priming.
    We’re thievin’ balladeers,A gang of cut-throat mugs,To fight us off, you won’t need guns,Just jolly good earplugs!A pirate I was meant to be,Trim the sail and roam the sea…

    Reply

  10. TechniKyle

    April 4, 2013 at 09:33

    Grim Fandango!

    Reply

    • That Tall Twit

      April 4, 2013 at 12:37

      YES!

      Reply

  11. Trevor Davies

    April 4, 2013 at 09:42

    Dark Forces was a good shooter back in the day – still have the original disk nestled under a whole bunch of newer titles

    Reply

    • Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew

      April 4, 2013 at 09:44

      Dark Forces 2 multiplayer was the best!

      The Bespin map was epic!

      Reply

    • Andrew Jackson

      April 4, 2013 at 11:28

      @google-b3ba07f0835438e0c954c94031814a2f:disqus Please pop me a mail about that Dark Forces disk. Or look me up on Twitter. AndrewJacksonZA@gmail.com @AndrewJacksonZA

      Reply

  12. Dewald Duvenhage

    April 4, 2013 at 09:43

    I want to send Disney a big F-U! Now the new Star Wars movie will be a fairy tale also.

    Reply

  13. Didier Peinke

    April 4, 2013 at 09:49

    Indiana Jones.

    Reply

  14. Bobbothegreat

    April 4, 2013 at 09:50

    Along with Sierra, LucasArts Games defined my childhood. Day of the Tentacle still remains one of my favourite games ever.
    It seems only fit to end with a quote. “You fight like a dairy farmer.” “How appropriate. You fight like a cow.”
    RIP LucasArts Games.

    Reply

  15. Lebogang Molefo

    April 4, 2013 at 09:50

    *sniff*sniff* damn onions, can’t they see these tears are blocking my view *sobs*

    Reply

  16. Shaun De Hoog

    April 4, 2013 at 09:50

    Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis…what a game!…and Monkey Island…and Day of the Tentacle…and Sam & Max…what a sad day 🙁

    Reply

  17. Slade Boender

    April 4, 2013 at 09:59

    But what abouts the Manny guy guy?

    Reply

    • TechniKyle

      April 4, 2013 at 12:40

      Manny Calavera

      Reply

      • Slade Boender

        April 4, 2013 at 13:31

        Funniest mexican grim reaper to have ever been pixilised

        Reply

        • TechniKyle

          April 4, 2013 at 13:58

          And then you meet Glottis and his pimped out Hearse.

          Reply

        • Daniel Keevy

          April 4, 2013 at 15:35

          We’re going to soar fellas. Like eagles. Eagles on pogo sticks.

          Dialouge like this just isn’t written any more 🙁

          Reply

  18. silverscorpio

    April 4, 2013 at 10:00

    Grim Fandango. I heard that there is maybe going to be an IOS version for the IPAD but that is also probably dead. Now we must all love the Emperor Mickey Mouse. I feel sick.

    Reply

  19. Kromas

    April 4, 2013 at 10:26

    KOTOR and KOTOR2 … and maybe sorta SWTOR (for about 3 months)

    Reply

  20. Yateen Dayaram

    April 4, 2013 at 12:50

    …….Anakin….you’re breaking my heart!….jokes aside….this is the saddest gaming news iv ever heard…theres been a few but this really hit me….damn…big damn….Grim Fandango was a fond memory I never really got to play it but I still remember going to my friends house after primary school and gawking at the game on his pc (friend was showing off he always had the latest powerful pc at the time lol) man that game stuck with me it was magical…oh and KOTOR though developed by Bioware is still one of the greatest games iv ever played!…Battlefront was great…and…and Star Wars 1313 looked sooooooooo amazeballs…….forgive me im going to a corner to sob now…

    Reply

  21. Skyblue

    April 4, 2013 at 14:12

    All I ever wanted was a new Tie Fighter game, sob

    Reply

  22. Daniel Keevy

    April 4, 2013 at 15:34

    Lucasarts was the company that got me into gaming. I remember the hours spent using *my entire inventory* with *red-masked cannibal.*

    I will really miss this company.

    Reply

  23. Daniel Keevy

    April 4, 2013 at 15:37

    Also, just because I didn’t see it here, let’s not forget “The Dig.” Epic game with a brilliant voice cast.

    Reply

  24. Aussious

    April 4, 2013 at 17:16

    Its no suprise this happened I mean its so typical, but you would think a Dev like LucasArts would be somewhat immune to this, since they have been around for so long. The fact that they where part of Disney kinda explains it though, is George to blame because he sold them to a huge multinational? Maybe… this generation has been the worst in terms of company closures and I have a feeling its just the beginning.

    Reply

  25. GeoffChisnall

    April 5, 2013 at 09:26

    The Dig deserves a picture up there! That game had me up for NIGHTS on end!

    As a tribute, they should release them all as a bundle. I would SO buy it without thinking.

    Reply

  26. Circuitflow

    April 8, 2013 at 15:46

    Jedi Knight, Force unleashed.. now who is going to come up
    with the new jedi Game..??? can u imagine Playing a Jedi knight game with a
    sort of Skyrim feel.. what a game it would make., running around..all powerfull and stuff and
    leaving up your jedi power ect… man oh man .all those nice dream down the pipe!!! ..All we going to get now is a
    Jedi knight entertaining kids at diney world.. YEAH!

    Reply

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