News from Friday, April 23, 2004

LucasArts lays off 29 staff
Posted by jp-30 | Source: Gamespot | Comments: 44
Just reported by gamespot, LucasArts' woes continue with 29 layoffs.
A LucasArts spokesperson told GameSpot the cuts were made "to bring studio staffing levels into line with the current development slate." Other sources said the news was presented to LucasArts employees at a meeting held late Friday afternoon.
You can read the rest of this news report here.



Post a new Comment | Comments for this news post:

Comment by: spaceship789 | Posted Monday, April 26, 2004
I hope some of them have the ability and motivation to start their own companies. Prove lucasarts wrong.

BTW isn't it funny how ethics and dignity have changed. The first lucasarts employess were determined that they weren't going to ride on the back of Starwars. And in doing so gave me some of the best gaming moments of the past 20 years. Now, its the complete opposite. Sad.
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Comment by: Bc9b | Posted Sunday, April 25, 2004
The final nail in the coffin for ft2 and Sam and Max (which was only kept opened by pure forse of will). Lucas arts, you are officually dead in my mind.
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Comment by: Scummbuddy | Posted Sunday, April 25, 2004
well, this "economic situation" that resulted in loss of staff was caused by them destroying the market.
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Comment by: TyraaRane | Posted Saturday, April 24, 2004
I think I'm going to go drink some beer and shoot things...like, say, a LucasArts voodoo doll. Who's with me?
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Comment by: Bobo Donkey? | Posted Saturday, April 24, 2004
ME
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Comment by: Guyfrench Threepwood | Posted Saturday, April 24, 2004
"Annus horribilis est"
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Comment by: Guyfrench Threepwood | Posted Monday, April 26, 2004
I meant "MMIV" of course.
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Comment by: spoon_man | Posted Saturday, April 24, 2004
Fuck it LucasArts are bloodsuckers. I only have respect left for their amazing title's of the past and the very talented men and women who made them possible.
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Comment by: Bobo Donkey? | Posted Saturday, April 24, 2004
I agree with you 100% there. If it was possible then I'd agree 1000000000000(and so on)%.
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Comment by: Mr Flibble | Posted Saturday, April 24, 2004
I'm sorry to say that LucasArts has fallen upon hard times.
They're galloping up diarheoa Drive without a sadle.

Sure, they were great, in the day,
Then...crap, after crap, after crap.

All the laid off guys, my heart goes out to you. You should get Tim, and start your own company. And burn George into the ground.
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Comment by: scabb | Posted Saturday, April 24, 2004
Robert Blackadder has the most excellent surname ever.
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Comment by: Zomantic | Posted Saturday, April 24, 2004
Lucasarts is a bitch.
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Comment by: Zomantic | Posted Saturday, April 24, 2004
Ugly bitch.
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Comment by: Zomantic | Posted Saturday, April 24, 2004
I hate it so much. Bitch.

Ok. I'm over. (But i hate it)
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Comment by: Emma | Posted Saturday, April 24, 2004
:(

LucasArts seriously need to do something to redeem themselves in my eyes. Far too many cock-ups lately.
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Comment by: Bobo Donkey? | Posted Saturday, April 24, 2004
I'd see them more as "Flamingo-ups".
Like cock-ups only MUCH bigger.
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Comment by: Bobo Donkey? | Posted Saturday, April 24, 2004
I think LucasArts should give the rights of Monkey Island? to Ron Gilbert. It'd be the best decision they make this year.
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Comment by: Kingzjester | Posted Monday, April 26, 2004
GIVE is the keyword there since, apparently, it's not worth spit.
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Comment by: Zomantic | Posted Saturday, April 24, 2004
Lucasarts is a bitch.
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Comment by: Yufster | Posted Saturday, April 24, 2004
Sean Clarke!!

Nooooo!!!
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Comment by: calculon | Posted Friday, April 23, 2004
Among the people let go were Sean Clark (Director of The Dig, Escape from Monkey Island and most recently Full Throttle 2), Robert Blackadder(Director of Jedi Power Battles and Gladius) as well as both the Lead Engineer and Producer of the late Sam and Max 2 game.

Mike Stemmle (Director of Sam and Max 2) is apparently still with the company.
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Comment by: QueZTone | Posted Saturday, April 24, 2004
oh yes so very smart lucasarts, break the duo and throw out clark...

lec can't seem to do anything right lately..
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Comment by: Marek | Posted Saturday, April 24, 2004
Sad. I hope those guys find great jobs at places more deserving of their talent.
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Comment by: Scummbuddy | Posted Saturday, April 24, 2004
Couldn't have said it better.
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Comment by: seanr | Posted Friday, April 23, 2004
Hopefully M Nelson was among the layoffs :)
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Comment by: Entity | Posted Friday, April 23, 2004
Was it the Sam & Max 2 team?
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Comment by: JBRAA | Posted Friday, April 23, 2004
So, they are going to rehire 29 good ones now?
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Comment by: JBRAA | Posted Friday, April 23, 2004
plz remove
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Comment by: JBRAA | Posted Friday, April 23, 2004
So, they are going to rehire 29 good ones now?
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Comment by: jp-30 | Posted Friday, April 23, 2004
Unless the 29 include the management who have been leading LEC in this direction since Simon Jeffry's resignation, I dare say it will have been good staffers who were booted.
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Comment by: warmgun | Posted Friday, April 23, 2004
Y'know, I don't want LucasArts to die, I just want them to regain the greatness they once possessed. Maybe the problem is current market conditions. Do people really want/buy these Star Wars games?
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Comment by: jp-30 | Posted Friday, April 23, 2004
Of course they do, and that's half the problem. The ease of selling a Star Wars title to the public seems to have killed any need (or ability) within LucasArts to market fringe titles like SWON, Armed & Dangerous, Gladius etc.

They ought to split into two divisions, a Star Wars Games company, and a 2nd division dedicated to creating and marketing original IP.
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Comment by: warmgun | Posted Friday, April 23, 2004
But do their original products make any money? If they don't make money, then what's the point of producing them? Stree cred? The sad truth is probably that noone outside the Mojo community buys their adventure games. That and they haven't made a decent game since Tim left.
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Comment by: jp-30 | Posted Friday, April 23, 2004
> But do their original products make any money?

If they don't it's because they're not being marketed properly. Gladius, Armed & Dangerous and SWON all got good reviews from the gaming sites / magazines.

> The sad truth is probably that noone outside the Mojo community buys their adventure games.

/What/ adventure games? And have you not seen that 25,000 strong petition protesting against the Sam & Max cancellation? I doubt all of them are mojo followers.
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Comment by: Remi O | Posted Friday, April 23, 2004
Additionally, as I've said before, EMI went top 20 in the US and #1 on Amazon. Sadly there aren't that many Mojo readers. :~
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Comment by: warmgun | Posted Friday, April 23, 2004
>> The sad truth is probably that noone outside the Mojo community buys their adventure games.

>/What/ adventure games? And have you not seen that 25,000 strong petition protesting against the Sam & Max cancellation? I doubt all of them are mojo followers.

I have to disagree with you here. I wish I could find some hard sales data for these games, but the last adventure game LucasArts produced, Escape from Monkey Island, must not have sold well. It is the only way that I can fathom for them to come to the conclusion that they will suffer big losses if they produce and market these games. When you say "/What/" adventure games, I say, exactly. The lack of adventure games has got to be due to market conditions. Either they don't sell well or one hasn't been produced that's worth a damn. This may be why Tim Schafer is making a platformer for a console instead of an adventure game for the PC.

As for online petitions, personally, I don't think they mean much. Its one thing to enter some email address on a website. It is entirely different to shell out 30 or 40 bucks on a game. Is there an example of petition getting a game back and it being sucessful? Or not even a game. How about a book, movie, tv show, or album?
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Comment by: jp-30 | Posted Saturday, April 24, 2004
>> When you say "/What/" adventure games, I say, exactly. The lack of adventure games has got to be due to market conditions.

Well, nice to have you among us, Mr Nelson.

A petition / web campaign got Sierra's Quest for Glory series a final installment.
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Comment by: warmgun | Posted Saturday, April 24, 2004
Well, thats why I said that. If adventure games aren't being made, it must be because they're no market for them.

>A petition / web campaign got Sierra's Quest for Glory series a final installment.

I stand corrected. I hope it works.
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Comment by: telarium | Posted Friday, April 23, 2004
Sad.
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Comment by: jp-30 | Posted Friday, April 23, 2004
When the hell are LucasArts going to get a new proper Managing Director? :(
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Comment by: Remi O | Posted Friday, April 23, 2004
"There is currently no plan to reduce staff." indeed.
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Comment by: tabacco | Posted Friday, April 23, 2004
Well, they did say 'currently' :)
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Comment by: Remi O | Posted Friday, April 23, 2004
'Currently' is obviously taken quite literally by Mr. Nelson. :~
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Comment by: laceyware | Posted Saturday, April 24, 2004
'Excellent. That's our ten minute waiting period over. YOU'RE ALL FIRED!!!!!'...
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