Just months after Disney acquired Presidio-based Lucasfilm for $4 billion, the entertainment behemoth has reportedly closed down LucasArts and laid off its entire staff from its offices in San Francisco and Singapore, with the exception of a small team to handle game licensing. The division of Lucasfilm has been creating video games for over 30 years, and was working on development of two new games, Star Wars: First Assault and Star Wars 1313, which have now been cancelled. Disney has declined to specify how many employees were dismissed today.

According to a Death Star LucasArts statement, DIsney is super appreciative and proud of the people whose creative work they've just flushed down the toilet (though the games they were putting out as of late certainly weren't the best):

"After evaluating our position in the games market, we've decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company's risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games. As a result of this change, we've had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles."

In other Disney news, 'Finding Dory', starring Ellen Degeneres' voice, is apparently not an April Fool's joke.

[Kotaku]

[Mashable]