Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

LucasArts Employees Hold Wake & Eulogy; Vader Still Roams

Posted by timothy on from the highly-qualified-applicants dept.

Dawn Kawamoto writes "LucasArts employees held a wake Friday night, days after Darth Vader Disney slayed their studio. Taking the high road, two LucasArts employees put together a eulogy that offers a retrospective on the culture, memories and accomplishments of the team. Most of us who've witnessed a blood bath at the workplace aren't as charitable. Darth Vader Disney is expected to strike again in the next two weeks at its studio and consumer product divisions."

40 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. Disney says... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "We have altered the deal. Pray we do not alter it further."

    1. Re:Disney says... by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Funny

      Perhaps you feel you are being treated unfairly. It would be unfortunate if I had to leave a garrison of Mouseketeers here.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:Disney says... by peragrin · · Score: 2

      the real question is which could shoot better Storm troopers or Mousketeers?

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    3. Re:Disney says... by meerling · · Score: 3, Informative

      Probably the Mousketeers. We already know an entire platoon of Stormtroopers can hit the broadside of a Deathstar even if they're standing in it.

    4. Re:Disney says... by Phics · · Score: 5, Funny

      Which is the broadside of a spherical space station?

      --
      There are two types of people in the world; those who believe there are two types of people, and those who don't.
    5. Re:Disney says... by Quasimodem · · Score: 2

      The inside.

    6. Re:Disney says... by dwywit · · Score: 4, Funny

      All of it.

      --
      They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom
    7. Re:Disney says... by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 2

      Annette certainly had an impressive pair of guns...

    8. Re:Disney says... by CodeBuster · · Score: 2

      Annette certainly had an impressive pair of guns...

      Too bad Uncle Walt wouldn't let her show them off. Even after her contract with Disney was up, Walt talked her out of appearing bikini clad in Beach Party because in his words she "had an image to uphold".

    9. Re:Disney says... by Seumas · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I looked at the list of games they've published and realized I haven't played a Lucas Arts game in almost twenty years and 59 of the last 79 games they've made have all been Star Wars. *yawn*

      I have sympathy for those affected, as far as employment goes, but I don't see the point in keeping a brand alive just to keep pumping out more of a 40 year old franchise and a bunch of ho-hum mobile games because of some 80s/90s nostalgia for the really original stuff they once did.

    10. Re:Disney says... by TWiTfan · · Score: 2

      I wonder what Uncle Walt would think of Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, etc.

      --
      The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
  2. A warning for Disney by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Make sure you've got some protection for the Epcot Center's thermal exhaust ports.

  3. Sierra's Chainsaw Monday by dottrap · · Score: 4, Interesting

    LucasArts shutting down is a significant and sad event, but adventure gamers should remember their history. Never forget Sierra Online's Chainsaw Monday.

    1. Re:Sierra's Chainsaw Monday by jonwil · · Score: 4, Interesting

      What happened to Sierra is a BIG reason I will NEVER give a single cent of my money to Activision Blizzard (and no I wont pirate their content either, I will play games made by companies that dont pull that kind of crap)

    2. Re:Sierra's Chainsaw Monday by rtb61 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It is all a result of those major movie studios never really understanding computer gaming and trying to buy up all those independent gaming studios to create the illusion of growing income within the expanding conglomerate (to inflate executive salaries and bonuses) only to find there is very little value in the old game titles that came with those independent gaming studios. The whole game publisher market with it's access to brick and mortar outlets is also coming under pressure with direct on-line sales in boxed format and digital sales.

      Also foreign gaming is now coming in and unlike movie or TV content, if the gaming is good the language translation is fairly cheap and this is creating a new flood of content.

      That old model of incompetent nepotism just buying up other companies and pretending that's revenue growth and management skill is falling apart. Why would Disney buy Lucas arts, only to shut it down, git rid of the competition? Those gaming licences just like media content licences have proven to be pretty much shit value because they just add enormous cost to new game development which often destroys the game before it gets out of the door for lack of playability. Cheaper to come up with a new 'theme' and a thin storey and focus on game play, which has proven to be far more profitable.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  4. Underperforming Division gets cut by new owners. by Osgeld · · Score: 5, Interesting

    We all love lucas arts, but there has not too much coming out of that for a while now, and its a smart decision to trim the fat, no matter how great they once were.

  5. The Dice Angle by guttentag · · Score: 5, Interesting

    For anyone who was wondering what Dice's real interest in Slashdot was, this seems to be it.

    The first link goes to a "Dice News" story.
    The second link goes to a Slashdot "Business Intelligence" story (remember, Business Intelligence is code for "someone paid us to put this up") that is a "Dice News" story by the same author as the first link.

    Obviously Dice pushed the Slashdot editors to post this as a news item. So much for editorial independence from the parent company. The disappearance of LucasArts may be Slashdot-worthy news, but when Slashdot's parent company, Dice, is writing the story it looks like they just want lots of techies to think "techies are losing their jobs, it could happen to me, I should look and see what's out there."

    1. Re:The Dice Angle by newcastlejon · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hah! People were always telling me to RTFA!
      I sure showed them!

      --
      If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
    2. Re:The Dice Angle by guttentag · · Score: 5, Informative

      The author of the Dice "news story" and the "business intelligence story" is also the submitter. Dawn Kawamoto is a Dice employee who has had two story "submissions" accepted in the last three days. Her other one was the H-1B visa cap story, which notes her as "First time accepted submitter Dawn Kawamoto." She's not an accepted submitter, she's a shill for your corporate overlords, Timothy. Again, a story about people looking for jobs and how tough the market is.

      Bottom line: if you see Kawamoto's name listed as the submitter, you know it's a Dice ad right away.

      Dice: You bought slashdot. Fine. But if you're going to try to pass your content off as news, instead of sponsored content, people will leave and you will have wasted your money. If you want to post an ad, call it what it is. Deception will get you nowhere on this site. You said you weren't going to interfere with Slashdot's editorial independence. Honor your commitment.

    3. Re:The Dice Angle by guttentag · · Score: 2

      Why can't they pass that information on without people assuming ulterior motives? What is wrong with "We heard something related to our business; you might want to know too".

      It's called full disclosure. If a reporter or columnist at The New York Times or The Washington Post owns stock in a company they mention, the article will make a point of noting that connection. If The Post runs a story about Kaplan Test Prep, or The Times runs a story about The Boston Globe, they make a point of noting that they are owned by the same parent. Likewise, if Slashdot is going to promote its parent company's content as news, the connection should be noted in the summary. Slashdot used to note its connection with Sourceforge in the summary when an article mentioned it.

      Also, this is Kawamoto's second accepted submission. Her first was two days ago.

      MSN didn't write an article, they posted a Reuters wire story on their site (lots of sites automatically post the entire feed for services like Reuters, AP, etc.). The Reuters story had all the key facts that the Dice story did, but Dice owns Slashdot so its two stories went on top. See the pattern yet?

    4. Re:The Dice Angle by jklovanc · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's called full disclosure. If a reporter or columnist at The New York Times or The Washington Post owns stock in a company they mention

      That is not what is happening here. Does Dice have controlling interest in Disney? This is not a conflict of interest between a source and a subject. There is a huge difference between linking and article about a parent company and an article by a parent company.

      if Slashdot is going to promote its parent company's content as news, the connection should be noted in the summary.

      It is news content; The fact that a writer is from a parent company is irrelevant.

      Also, this is Kawamoto's second accepted submission. Her first was two days ago

      Which was also an employment related article. Wow that's strange for an employment related writer. It must be a plot. /sarcasm

      The Reuters story had all the key facts that the Dice story did, but Dice owns Slashdot so its two stories went on top. See the pattern yet?

      The writer puts her articles first; it must be a plot. /sarcasm

      If you want to see plots everywhere go right ahead.

    5. Re: The Dice Angle by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 2

      I'll reply to you because your sarcasm indicates you might want to ponder the journalism conflicts emerging here.

      It's not about Disney this time - it's about overall news slant. Slashdot built a culture for 15 years of users submitting stories which would be sifted (haphazardly, as the running joke goes.) Then they go live, followed by users making comments. However funny the erratic editing was, there was no direct flow of gain to the slashdot ownership structure except when noted.

      This time it absolutely does matter that "users" are in fact employees of the parent company owner, âgoing incognito as pseudo-usersâ.

      That matters big time because at least I can grin and ignore things by Roblimo. I would have missed the deep links if guttentag hadn't done the homework. That's bad news for a news site because yes, they are getting more and more aggressive putting their own spin on the news mix slant.

      And yes as ac jokes we have been saying we will leave, for years now, but submarine shills for the owner company is yet another new trick and they will keep adding more.

      --
      My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
  6. Expected by Macfox · · Score: 2

    They failed to produce anything of value in the last few years, with the exception of Force Unleashed, but even the sequel was lack lustre.

    One one side it can be hard to produce a radical new game/concept, when boxed into the SW franchise. That said they had exclusive access to a big market of SW fans. I really wished they'd release a new version of Tie Fighter/Xwing MMO.

    --
    Area51 - We are watching...
  7. I used to work at Disney World by mark_reh · · Score: 5, Insightful

    about 30 years ago. It was the most degrading job I have ever had. Management treated employees like crap. Day one job training consisted of the boss showing you your locker and uniform, telling you to keep it clean and never take it out of the park, and do things the "Disney way" or get the hell out because there are 10 people lined up outside to take your job.

    1. Re:I used to work at Disney World by dadelbunts · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well if working at Disney i would expect you to do things the "Disney way" or be canned. If i had employees i certainly would want them to do things the way i wanted and not however suited their fancy.

    2. Re:I used to work at Disney World by viperidaenz · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Oh no! you have to do what you're told when you're getting paid for it?
      They don't let you steal uniforms either? No noes!

    3. Re:I used to work at Disney World by mark_reh · · Score: 3, Informative

      Holy crap, how do people manage to miss my point? I wasn't complaining that they expected employees to follow specific rules, I was pointing out the tone of the "training" which was extremely disrespectful, and the fact that it took less than 10 minutes on day one to be treated like crap by the management.

  8. Re: Darth Vader Disney by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    LEGO Indiana Jones
    LEGO Indiana Jones 2
    LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
    Star Wars: Battlefront
    Star Wars: Battlefront II
    Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy
    Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
    Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II
    Star Wars: Republic Commando
    Tales of Monkey Island

    All great LucasArts games released within the past 10 years.

  9. Actually.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    With the exception of Tales of Monkey Island (Which I'm less sure about) all of the rest of those were sublicensees, which will remain. It was the LucasArts game development arm that was axed, not the licensing department. As someone else mentioned only the Force Unleashed games and a few other odds and ends came out of them in the past decade.

    One thing I was curious about however, was if any game assets for other licensees came out of LA during that time, given that Star Wars Galaxies, TOR, and a few others were producing during that period, and might (or might not) have had assets produced by the LA art staff.

  10. News at 11 by Eskarel · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Company which hasn't made anything of note in years shut down.

    Seriously folks, LucasArts has made some of the greatest games I've ever played, but how long does that keep the lights on? It's not like the brand even has that much value anymore.

  11. Re:Live by the tax, die by the tax by viperidaenz · · Score: 4, Informative

    Lucas sold out in 2012 because Disney gave him a butt load of cash. Don't kid yourself.

  12. Re: Darth Vader Disney by viperidaenz · · Score: 5, Informative

    LEGO Indiana Jones - Traveller's Tales
    LEGO Indiana Jones 2 - Traveller's Tales
    LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy - Traveller's Tales
    Star Wars: Battlefront - Pandemic Studios
    Star Wars: Battlefront II - Pandemic Studios
    Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy - Raven Software
    Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - BioWare
    Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - Obsidian Entertainment
    Star Wars: Republic Commando - Lucas Arts
    Tales of Monkey Island - Telltale Games

    FTFY
    All the games by Lucas Arts in the last 10 years:
    2009: Lucidity
    2003: RTX Red Rock
    2005: Star Wars: Republic Commando
    2008: part of "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed", amongst many other games studios, same with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II in 2010

  13. That eulogy by OhANameWhatName · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is self serving justification. "We sacrificied everything! We were so dedicated [sniff] it's not [sniff] [cry] FAAAIIIIRRR [sniff]"

    The studio had the greatest franchise in the history of science fiction and failed. If the employees don't hold themselves responsible, I can see why it's been closed. Considering the epic failure of Kinect Starwars and the near complete disappointment of TOR .. it's pretty clear that LucasArts Studios has been on pump and dump for some years now. Thinking back, it's hard to recall a Star Wars game since X-Wing which has even come close to meeting expectations of the fans.

    And I don't think you can blame the fans for having too high expectations. If TOR was even remotely like a an open ended MMO, people would have been glued to it like flies on shit. But despite the that being the only requirement .. well, the bar was too high. If the staff aren't the people responsible, who are?

    I'd be the last person wanting to publicise my failure on a eulogy page, that's just flat out embarassing.

    1. Re:That eulogy by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You cannot milk a franchise forever, no matter how great it is.

      What made the franchise great is that the way it started was new. And no, I'm not even talking about the FX. Yes, they were great. I'm old enough to remember what it was like to sit there in the cinema with people screaming (yes, screaming) at the opening of Episode IV. You know the scene? The Corvette flying overhead and everyone was "whoa, that's detailed, that's so real", and then that Star Destroyer coming in in pursuit... the audience did go wild.

      The story was new, too. Before that, SciFi and magic didn't really mix. This was one of the first that catered to both audiences. You also had way more developed characters than was normal in SciFi back then. Sure, it was just a generic Percival theme, mixed with the old war hero that had some personal reasons to disappear into obscurity, the pirate-turned-hero and the young hero eventually saving the day, but the mix was right and novel at its time.

      You also had characters that were more than one dimensional stereotypes. The heroes were not without flaws and the Evil (tm) had actually a reason to be evil. Not the usual "we want to destroy the earth just because, well, it's there" crap that was SciFi at the time.

      From the 2013 point of view, nothing to write home about. In 1979, it sure was breathing new life into a stale genre. It can be said that it was the beginning of SciFi being more than flashy, gimmicky movies with little plot and storyline.

      Sadly, with the new trilogy, they pretty much turned time back pre-1979. In the new trilogy, you have shallow, unbelievable characters who sometimes do things for no logical reason (not even any "human" reason) and plot holes big enough to send an armada of death stars through without them even coming close to their edges. Not to mention alienating the fanbase by tampering with the movies we grew up with and were fond of.

      Seriously, movies 1-3 were nothing spectacular. Yes, they were quite watchable. They were decent, but nothing groundbreaking like the first trilogy. Based on those, there is simply no franchise to build. They don't come close to the status the first trilogy had. Not to mention that they really sometimes feel a lot like thinly veiled overlong ads for the merchandise. Seriously, am I the only one who thought Episode One was a too long ad for the podracer game?

      What felled Lucasarts eventually was simply that they created an expectation they could not fulfill. The bar was put quite way up there with their original movies and games.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  14. Mousketeers by bussdriver · · Score: 2

    Storm troopers can't aim. Ever see star wars? Even the droids don't shoot straight.
    Hell, the jedi are so bored they block shots that would actually miss them -- about a third the time. The force must be a magnet for laser blasters because everything other target gets less action.

    --
    Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
  15. Re:Yeah... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    a friend of mine was always telling me I should get that job, because he thought it was the most magical place on earth and it must be wonderful working there.

    Seriously the Cult of the Mouse is some scary shit. Makes Scientology look tame in comparison.

    Mountains out of mole hills.

    It isn't a cult, it isn't scary. Youre just a retard.

    Disney is an empire and they do everything they can to protect its image because that's what Disney is, its an image. An image that earns them billions of dollars a year. And Disney world? You better believe they make sure everyone follows very strict guidelines because millions of families go through those parks each year all expecting to have a magical experience that the Disney name lends itself to.

    Is mickey a cult? Don't be so melodramatic and idiotic. But youd be really stupid to think that they wont hold their employees to the same standards that's families have about Disney. A potato headed employee can much up a families vacation and ruin some childs image of it, so you better believe they expect you to behave. If you want a job where you don't have to treat the customers like they matter then go to walmart and shut up. No one forces anyone to work at Disney.

  16. Re:LucasArts died many years ago. by rubycodez · · Score: 2

    Looking at the list of directors of LucasFilm movies over the years, one can determine the time of death. 1999, when Lucas started directing again. Specifically, right at the point in the script of TPM when Qui-Gon saves Gungan Jar Jar Binks from being crushed alive.

  17. Re:LucasArts died many years ago. by Fallen+Kell · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yeah. I do have to agree with you here. The games that the teams at LucasArts themselves havn't really put out a decent game in 15 years. To be honest, that is never the fault of the employees who are getting canned, but the management who made bad decisions (either unrealistic deadlines, not enough talent, wrong kinds of talent, poor allocation of talent, bad game pitches/approvals).

    Seriously, what other studio has been consistently been in the top 5-10 demands for a sequel and not even considered it (I'm talking about X-Wing/Tie Fighter here)? They didn't even consider it when Episode 1-3 came out. I mean, really? The Star Wars Universe just had a several billion reboot and you didn't take advantage by making a game which you can pilot the most bad-ass, and cool things which exist from it? Seriously? Yeah, the management had no clue, and as a result, it has been dead for a long time.

    There once was a great game studio called LucasArts, who made some of the most innovative and cutting edge video games, X-Wing, Tie Fighter, Full Throttle, Day of the Tentacle, Grim Fandango, Manic Mansion, Metal Warriors, Monkey Island, Zombies Ate My Neighbors.... It turned into a Zombie about 15 years ago....

    --
    We were all warned a long time ago that MS products sucked, remember the Magic 8 Ball said, "Outlook not so good"
  18. Re: Live by the tax, die by the tax by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Actually, no. First, Lucas is old. Second, none of his three kids had any interest in running the company in his absence. Say George dies, it probably goes into a trust and is disassembled. No more ILM. No more Skysound.

    In hindsight, it looks like Disney is gutting the company for IP. As a soon to be former employee (more than just Arts got cut this past week, more about the bloodbath will probably come out over the next couple weeks) we have nothing but respect for George for giving us the opportunities that we had. Selling to Disney (or someone else) seemed like the right thing to do at the time. It sucks worse than you know to take a job at a company specifically because it's 40 years old and 'rock solid', then to be unceremoniously shown the door like that. It's downright traumatic.

    P.S. 1313 was not several years away from being done, it was much closer than that. Like holiday 2013 close, by my estimation.

  19. Re: Darth Vader Disney by MachineShedFred · · Score: 2

    I don't care. The company that produced Full Throttle should be allowed to do whatever the hell they want until they die a natural death decades from now.

    That game was just too awesome.

    --
    Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.