LucasArts cuts staff, remains committed to internal development

by Randy Nelson { Jun 6th 2008 at 2:41PM }

LucasArts has confirmed to Joystiq that the company laid off "a portion" of its workforce yesterday, June 5. Margaret Grohne, director of public relations for LucasArts, could not comment on the number of employees affected or which departments they came from. She could confirm that Peter Hirschmann, vice president of product developer, did depart the company yesterday in what was a "mutual decision" with management, and that his "passion and humor will be missed."

According to Grohne, the layoffs are not the result of a shift away from internal product development. "We remain committed to both our internal teams and working with external partners," Ghrone told Joystiq, adding that "[sites] are definitely reading too much into the layoffs; [LucasArts] is not halting internal development."

To that end, Ghrone stated that no titles have been canceled or put on-hold as a result of the layoffs, and that the company is "very proud" of the work done by the internal team creating Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, as well as that done by the staff of Day 1 Studios, who are developing the upcoming original IP Fracture for LucasArts.

Regarding various reports of now ex-employees of the company divulging information online concerning titles such as the next Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars Battlefront 3, and a "lightsaber game" for Wii, Grohne stated that the company cannot comment on unannounced products.

The LucasArts layoffs follow THQ's elimination of at least 200 jobs last month.

Tags: BreakingNews, fracture, indiana-jones, layoffs, lucasarts, star-wars, the-force-unleashed

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

JontheNinja @ Jun 6th 2008 2:50PM

Lucasarts? It's turning into more like LucasFARTS.

:D

DangerMouse @ Jun 6th 2008 2:55PM

LucasFarts has been around for years. They helped produce Star Wars: Episode I, II and III.

Yuccadude @ Jun 6th 2008 4:31PM

As long as Battlefront III doesn't change too much stuff and KotOR III is like I with the story and II with the gameplay additions, I'll be happily buying these games day one.

WiiFTW @ Jun 6th 2008 4:42PM

Battlefront 3 better be full of win cause the past two were pretty good. Just make it a bit more realistic and its guaranteed to sell like CoD4.

Yuccadude @ Jun 6th 2008 4:46PM

I don't like when people say realistic when talking about science fiction that has very little science in it. But I could see them taking it in more of the way Republic Commando went and making the game more tactical than the previous two were.

finnith @ Jun 6th 2008 5:05PM

I doubt that they will make SW:BF3 like that cause the game exists to show the scale of the big battles of the movie series. Commando squads worked behind the scenes. I could see them expanding the game to include the battles in the new animated Clone Wars series and even the EU, though.