Disney axes LucasArts and shuts down all current projects

At first i figured it was an Aprils fools day joke that got delayed, but it's true. Disney shut down game studio LucasArts. Some 150 people were laid off, and both of the studio's current projects - Star Wars: First Assault and Star Wars 1313 - were cancelled. Kotaku learned that Disney will still use the LucasArts name to license games, but other than that the studio is now completely dead.

Publicly, Disney is saying their current games could be licensed out to a different publisher or developer, but according to our source, that's unlikely. Our source says Lucas has pursued the option for "one or both games," but nothing happened. "With the teams now basically being dispersed I think both games are effectively dead forever," our source said.

A second source also told Kotaku this afternoon that the chances of Lucas licensing out 1313 are very slim. The odds are "effectively zero," the source said.

“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," LucasArts parent company LucasFilm said in a statement. "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.”