Bad news for all you fans of the game developing studio LucasArts.  First, don’t panic, some people on Twitter were confusing LucasArts with Lucasfilm.  LucasArts was a subsidiary of Lucasfilm dedicated to making video games.  Lucasfilm is still intact and plans still in place for Star Wars VII.

It was announced yesterday that Disney is shuttering LucasArts, the legendary game making studio.  150 developers have been laid off and ongoing projects have been cancelled.  This includes titles such as Star Wars: 1313 and Star Wars: First Assault.

This is only a little bit of a shock to me.  Disney had long said their gaming focus has shifted to social gaming and the upcoming Disney Infinity game.  Having a studio like LucasArts making games outside of these focus areas didn’t make much sense.  But, I had some hope since Star Wars: 1313 picked up some really good buzz at E3 this year.

But there is a chance we might see 1313 in the future.  It has been announced that LucasArts will remain intact to license out their intellectual property.  This isn’t anything new as Raven Software developed the Jedi Knight games for LucasArts and BioWare did the same with Knights of the Old Republic.

In recent years there haven’t been a lot of great LucasArts games.  But, if you go back to the heyday of LucasArts there were churning out fantastic games like X-Wing, TIE Fighter, Grim Fandango, The Adventures of Sam and Max, and more.  With LucasArts shutting down I really hope that another studio acquires the rights to make more of these fantastic games.

I am going to miss LucasArts even if they haven’t been quite as good in recent years.  LucasArts leaves behind a fantastic legacy and I hope someone else comes in to pick up the slack and put out more fantastic games.