LucasArts has been around for a long, long time. But no longer. Disney has decided to pull the plug on a company that has existed since 1982! Not only that, all games in production, including the HIGHLY anticipated game 1313. LucasArts created some of the greatest games from my childhood. I remember playing many of these games on my Macintosh, including Dark Forces, Sam and Max, Rebel Assault, X-Wing/Tie Fighter and MORE! When LucasArts expanded to consoles we received some AWESOME games that would set the standard for many years to come, in the form of the Jedi Knight series, Shadows of the Empire, Rogue Squadron, and the Battlefront series, ahhh the horror! LucasArts has not made a big splash in the last few years, but when 1313 was announced fans were really excited.
Stepping away from the Jedi theme, 1313 was going to explore the grittier side of the Star Wars universe, as players were tasked with exploring the depths of Coruscant. Sadly, it was recently revealed that the game was actually going to feature Boba Fett. According to Kotaku, George Lucas told the creators that he wanted them to make Fett the center focus of the game, something that makes total sense. Fett’s “activities” between the Prequels and Original Trilogy have been relatively unknown, besides showing up in games like Dark Forces and maybe some EU stories, but nothing that has been Lucas established. So now fans can be even more disappointing. Listen, everyone knows that when a company is bought out that things change. BUT why is Star Wars the case when Marvel was not, something here doesn’t make a sense. The EU was something that George Lucas kept creative control over, stories that he controlled to a certain extent, dictating to the authors what would happen and who would die. Don’t forget that the popular animated adventure The Clone Wars has now been ended officially along with the rumors that the comic license will be given to Marvel Comics. With the elimination of LucasArts, we now see the issue of ORDER 66 on all of the properties that we have grown to accept and love. So will Disney eliminate all the continuity that we have grown up with and loved over the years? Are characters like Grand Admiral Thrawn, Mara Jade, the Solo twins, and more, safe from the “clean slate” that Disney may be looking for?
Whatever happens, Star Wars will live on, and the EU will as well. No one can ever take away the stories like the Zahn Trilogy, or Dark Empire, or New Jedi Order. AS fans we have to be accepting of whatever Disney decides to do because we are going to buy tickets to any movie they make, and buy MOST of the merchandise that will be released, why? Because we love Star Wars. Even with the prequel trilogy, as much as some of us hated what Lucas decided to do, we had to accept it and move on. The return of our favorite characters and J.J. Abrams may be just enough for us to forgive and forget, and start loving a NEW Star Wars.
May the Force be with you
~CynicNerd
