News of the rumored layoffs at LucasArts that we broke yesterday afternoon were confirmed today by the developer, which maintained that they remain committed to their internal studio.


"I can confirm we had layoffs yesterday they were in the studio," said LucasArts spokeswoman Margaret Grohne. "They had to do with where we are in our product life cycles."


Yesterday a number of former LucasArts staffers contacted us to say that 75 to 100 employees were laid off from the company, including VP of Product Development Peter Hirschmann and the producer of LEGO Indiana Jones and LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, Shawn Storc.

The layoffs come months after former president Jim Ward stepped down from heading the company and was replaced by Darrell Rodriguez, a former Electronic Arts COO.

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According to our sources up to 80 percent of staff has been laid off in departments such as Production Services, which includes QA and Compliance, with jobs planned to be outsourced overseas. Cuts were also said to be made in development, with art and programming staffers being laid off.


While Grohne declined to talk specifics, she did say that Hirschmann was no longer with the company and that his departure was a "mutual decision."


While our sources told us that the layoffs cut deeply into the developer's internal studio, leaving the company short-staffed, Grohne maintained that the company is healthy and remains committed to internal development.

"We are healthy," she said. "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."