Bad news about KOTOR 3...

Galvatron · Post by **Galvatron** » 2004-08-13 04:51pm

LucasArts undergoing "major restructuring"

Star Wars games publisher confirms laying off staff and moving Episode III development off-site. KOTOR 3 development stalled.

Responding to yesterday's reports that it had laid off staff, LucasArts today said in a statement that it was undergoing "a major restructuring of its development studio." A notice on the company's Web site outlined some of the restructuring's details, including layoffs of 31 staffers and the appointment of Peter Hirschmann as vice president of product development. Hirschmann, a two-year LucasArts vet and former Electronic Arts producer, had been managing the development of Star Wars: Battlefront and Star Wars: Mercenaries.

The restructuring is the first major change to be officially announced by LucasArts since Jim Ward took over as its president. “Since joining LucasArts in early May, I’ve taken a hard, critical look at our business," he said in the statement. "I’ve come to the conclusion that to make LucasArts thrive, and to position ourselves for the long-term future, we need to make some fundamental changes.”

Today, LucasArts began to outline what exactly said changes would entail. Firstly, in-house development will be scaled way back, because "the company will be concentrating on fewer titles," read the statement. While Star Wars: Battlefront and Star Wars Republic Commando remain at LucasArts, the publisher has farmed out development on its as-yet-untitled Episode III game to The Collective. The Southern California studio has developed several titles for LucasArts, including Wrath Unleashed and Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb.

On the project front, an informed industry source said the team attached to the early stages of development on Knights of the Old Republic 3 was let go in yesterday's layoff.

IRG CommandoJoe · Post by **IRG CommandoJoe** » 2004-08-13 04:58pm

Ummm.....aren't they still working on KOTOR 2?

Post by **Lagmonster** » 2004-08-13 05:14pm

KOTOR 2 is due out this winter, so who knows how far ahead Lucasarts is planning. They've clearly got a huge lineup planned while they milk the last few drops out of the Star Wars saga, which largely comes to a close with the final movie.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2004-08-13 05:15pm

Yes they gave KOTOR 2 to the folks who made Planescape Torment, never knew they had ANOTHER devoplment team working on KOTOR 3 already

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2004-08-13 05:18pm

Bah, that sucks. I was hoping that they'd give KOTOR3 to the same group as KOTOR2. After all, you can't go wrong with people who worked on Fallout.

Galvatron · Post by **Galvatron** » 2004-08-13 05:18pm

Lagmonster wrote:KOTOR 2 is due out this winter, so who knows how far ahead Lucasarts is planning. They've clearly got a huge lineup planned while they milk the last few drops out of the Star Wars saga, which largely comes to a close with the final movie.

I doubt that. There's a lot of potential EU fodder in the years between ROTS and ANH.

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2004-08-13 05:43pm

Why is this here and in PSW?

Galvatron · Post by **Galvatron** » 2004-08-13 05:47pm

Because it's relevant in both forums and I assumed that not everyone who reads PSW also reads G&G (and vice-versa).

EmuWarrior · Post by **EmuWarrior** » 2004-08-15 09:40pm

KOTOR 3? It sounds like they want to plan a little too far in advance.

I'm guessing that LucasArts loves the money.

Then again, I'm a cynical little bastard, so maybe it's really for the fans.