News - LucasArts Confirms Layoffs

LucasArts has confirmed today rumors it laid off 75 to 100 developers, with jobs planning to be outsourced overseas. "They had to do with where we are in our product life cycles," cites LucasArts spokeswoman Margaret Grohne. Layoffs included people from all levels of the company - including QA and Compliance, Production Services, art and programmers - all the way up to Vice President of Product Development Peter Hirschmann and producer Shawn Storc (LEGO Indiana Jones, LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga). This is one of the first notable business decisions to come from LucasArts after former president Jim Ward stepped down and was replaced by former Electronic Arts COO Darrell Rodriguez. As of this point, however, there is no substantial correlation between Rodriguez' hiring and the layoffs, nor Ward's departure with the layoffs, either. Grohne continues, "We are healthy. LEGO Indie was launched on seven platforms to positive reviews, The Force Unleashed and Fracture are on track for this fall. We have a good slate of games and we have some good stuff going on in production. We are definitely committed to the internal studio."