Lucas Arts

LucasArts was founded by George Lucas in 1982 to further his vision of a fully diversified entertainment company. It is known primarily for its point and click adventure games as well as numerous Star Wars and Indiana Jones releases. Its first games, Ballblazer and Rescue on Fractalus, were released for the Atari 5200 in 1984 under the Lucasfilm Games banner. Maniac Mansion, an early point and click adventure game, was developed using the Lucasfilm proprietary "Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion" or SCUMM. The SCUMM engine formed the backbone of the many point and click adventures to follow, including the popular Monkey Island and Indiana Jones series. A Stormtrooper plays as Darth Vader in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed A Stormtrooper plays as Darth Vader in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Since 1982 LucasArts has had a hand in the development or publishing of over 125 games including such hits as Pipe Dream in 1989, The Secret of Monkey Island in 1990, Day of the Tentacle in 1993, X-wing versus TIE Fighter in 1997, Grim Fandango in 1998, all the way to Star Wars: The Force Unleased in 2008, the 'Special Edition' remake of the Secret of Monkey Island in 2009, and The Force Unleashed II in 2010. Star Wars: 1313 was announced as being in development on May 31, 2012. A number of influential game designers have worked at LucasArts, including such luminaries as Tim Schafer, who went on to found Double Fine Productions, Dave Grossman now at Telltale Games, and Ron Gilbert recently reunited with former subordinate Tim at Double Fine. In 2005 LucasArts moved from its office in San Rafael, California to the Letterman Digital Arts Center in the Presidio of San Francisco. LucasArts' sister company, movie special effects giant Industrial Light and Magic, also moved to the same facility, which has since helped encourage greater collaboration between the two companies. Acquisition and Closure On October 30, 2012, LucasArts was acquired by The Walt Disney Company as part of the $4.05 Billion purchase of Lucasfilm. On April 3, 2013, the company was shut down by Disney. All employees were laid off and all projects were cancelled. The Star Wars video game license was sold to Electronic Arts.