By Nathan Grayson on October 30th, 2012 at 11:16 pm.
Star Wars‘ universe is ruled by an all-powerful elderly man who’s known for controlling the masses with unspeakable technological horrors and shooting lightning out of his fingertips. I’m talking, of course, about George Lucas. However, in the most exciting twist the franchise has seen since “I am your father,” he’s now mostly out of the picture. Disney has officially purchased Lucasfilm – all technologies, IPs, and rights to every property – for $4.05 billion. We now live in a world where Pixar or Joss Whedon heading up a new Star Wars film is a very real possibility. But what does this mean for videogames? Could we finally get that Ewok tractor-driving simulator everyone’s been clamoring for? Or Grim Fandango 2 developed by the team that made Disney Princess: My Fairytale Adventure? We can only hope. So far, though, here’s what we know for sure.
For LucasArts – who’s currently developing Star Wars 1313, among others – things seem to be moving full steam ahead. At least, for now. A rep explained the situation to Polygon: ”For the time being all projects are business as usual. We are excited about all the possibilities that Disney brings.”
The gaming future for the likes of Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and their kin, however, isn’t looking so bright. Don’t get me wrong: Until Disney converts its media empire into a regular Empire and blows up the Earth with a Mickey-Mouse-shaped Death Star, there will always be Star Wars games. But you know how there’s only, like, one big-budget semi-interesting Disney game and a billion mobile/social franchise tie-ins? Well, that.
“We’re likely to focus more on social and mobile than we are on console,” said Disney CEO Robert Iger during a conference call. ”We’ll look opportunistically at console, most likely in licensing rather than publishing, but we think that given the nature of these characters and how well known they are, and the storytelling, that they lend themselves quite nicely, as they’ve already demonstrated to the other platforms.”
Granted, that does leave the door open for third-parties to get involved, but I can’t imagine licensing Star Wars will be cheap. Old-school LucasArts adventures, though? That might be another story. Hmmmmmmmmm.
Also worth considering: the case of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Depending on the terms of the deal, it could be affected in any number of ways, so I’ve sent a mail to EA and BioWare about it. I’ll update this post as soon as I hear back.
30/10/2012 at 23:20 Sumanai says:
Man, Minnie really has a lot of ear hair growing. I wonder how much it hurt to get them into buns like those.
30/10/2012 at 23:20 kevmscotland says:
Soooooooo conflicted on this.
Finally it might mean George Lucas cant screw with the films any longer (hopefully)
But Disney aren’t exactly a saint either, with their munching up of anything kids like and then churning out mediocre sequel after sequel chasing that all important money!
Its not about entertaining kids anymore.
Fairly sure Walt Disney himself is turning in his grave seeing whats become of them.
30/10/2012 at 23:34 Steven Hutton says:
I was conflicted at first but I’m firmly in the negative now, if only because more media consolidation is a really serious problem.
Not famine serious but still, a concern.
30/10/2012 at 23:51 1Life0Continues says:
This.
Consolidation of media is not a good thing, no matter which way you slice it.
And given Disney’s proclivities for all things Goofy, what’s the bet on a new Disney series soon called ‘The Adventures of Jar Jar Binks’?
Okay, that’s probably a long shot, but still.
31/10/2012 at 02:41 IceColdNed says:
That longshot of yours was enough to make me curl into a fetal position and cry for five minutes.
31/10/2012 at 01:23 Wreckdum says:
They bought Marvel. I haven’t seen a bad Marvel movie since it’s acquisition have you? At least wait until they make the first movie before you start going all Dionne Warwick on the future.
31/10/2012 at 01:44 Aerothorn says:
Iron Man II.
31/10/2012 at 02:04 herculesmrb says:
I’m sorry, I can’t hear you over how awesome Iron Man and War Machine are fighting drones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZWzf3h50LU
31/10/2012 at 07:39 SiHy_ says:
What, for both seconds?
Also I couldn’t stand Thor. But then again, I’m very hard to please.
31/10/2012 at 16:38 DrGonzo says:
Don’t forget Captain America, Hulk and Thor. All were pretty mediocre. But the first Iron Man, and The Avengers were entertaining.
31/10/2012 at 18:20 Universal Quitter says:
Some of you are missing the point. Star Wars is a much better concept than Thor, and DEFINITELY has more potential than Captain America. His weapon is a shield, for fuck’s sake! A goddamn shield! Shoot at him from two separate directions at the same time!
Anyway, the comparison may be meaningless. Marvel’s studio is brilliant. Lucasfilm, well, let’s just hope Lucas keeps more of an advisory role, versus actually doing anything.
31/10/2012 at 04:26 Numerical says:
When you say “haven’t made a bad movie” you realize that’s your opinion, right? Because it is and many, many many people would disagree with you.
31/10/2012 at 04:37 Xyvik says:
And you realize that so many people disagree with you that every single Marvel movie has made massive profits, culminating in the third highest grossing film of all time? (and the others only beat it because of re-releases?)
Haters gonna hate, but Disney turned Marvel into a hideously profitable company, and there are millions of people and hundreds of critics that agree that it was an excellent thing.
There is literally no way that Star Wars can get any worse than it already is. If Disney wises up and hires Timothy Zahn as a story consultant then amazing things could happen.
As for games: same goes. There’s no way Star Wars can get any worse. This can only be a good thing.
31/10/2012 at 04:50 jrodman says:
Profitable != great. There’s a mild correlation at best.
31/10/2012 at 04:54 Docslapper says:
Well my opinion, and yes, it’s just my opinion, is there are very few (in fact I’d venture to say no) companies that would take the long-view strategy nf the Marvel IP that resulted in the Avengers series of movies. It showed a real understanding of the nature of fandom to take the big risk of an entire 10-year strategy involving the whole stable rather than creaming off the most popular characters in a few standalone films as every other studio has done.
The resulting massive profitability as justification shows real hope that they’ll take a similar long, serious view of the SW lore and fanbase and produce a similar series of excellent movies.
As others have said, they can’t possibly treat it as badly as Lucas has done. Anything will be an improvement, but there’s a real possibility that this could be awesome. I’m cautiously optimistic.
31/10/2012 at 06:24 HadToLogin says:
@Xyvik: Disney turned Marvel MOVIES into big profit. In the same time, Marvel gets less and less money from where they should – comics…
31/10/2012 at 06:26 mouton says:
@Xyvik
So, you also consider CoD games good, yes?
31/10/2012 at 08:13 Xyvik says:
I honestly thought RPS readers read whole posts. My mistake. Obviously profitability is most important from a -business- standpoint. Disney has made extremely good business moves since acquiring Marvel.
As the rest of the my post pointed out (yes, read whole posts people! It helps!) the critics agree that the Marvel movies are also good.
Unlike the CoD games (which I despise with an intensity hard to describe), however, what matters most is that a good 90% of the -fans- agree that the Marvel movies are good things. With some missteps here and there (which is completely forgivable considering the scope of the project) Marvel knew when to step in and also when to step back and let the creative talent do their job.
In this case, the creative talent of LucasArts has been drained of all of their being by the hideous monstrosity known as Mr. Lucas. Things can only get better from here with Disney in charge. There is literally nothing Disney can do to ruin LucasArts more than George already has. There is a chance they might continue the badness, but they cannot actually make it worse.
31/10/2012 at 16:45 DrGonzo says:
I would say over 90% of CoD fans are happy with it. So no, it’s exactly the same. And no many comic books fans didn’t like the sterile bland approach to the characters Marvel took with the films.
31/10/2012 at 18:27 Universal Quitter says:
That’s just, like, your opinion, man.
Seriously, though. Do you expect this to have any other effect on the internet besides literally millions of arguments?
The answer is yes. That bad ass, fan-made Tie Fighter cartoon (fantoon? fanime?) from a couple months ago will probably never get the green light from Disney (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tBM2ZfncoU). Lucas might have let it well enough alone.
In fact, I wonder if Disney will basically tell the EU to F itself. That could be bad, but also really awesome considering the X-wing series-to-shit ratio I’ve noticed in their novels. For every one good book, you have fifty Courtship of Princess Leias. A creative great deluge could save the franchise from it’s stagnation.
31/10/2012 at 08:07 Lobotomist says:
You do have a point there. And I agree – Marvel movies were all top notch – well except new Spiderman (that rises concern). But last X-Man , Avengers , Iron Man … all very good movies.
Still – Future of SW is now heading for 100% children audiences , we can be sure that nothing SW related will be tied to adult themes. I guess the franchise is now forfeit.
RIP Star Wars
31/10/2012 at 09:26 marach says:
The Spiderman movies aren’t marvel movies, Sony currently has the rights to him and refuse to let go (their contract seems to require a film ever 2-4 years or they lose him)…
Fox own the X-men, Fantastic 4, Silver surfer and Deadpool rights and make sure to meet the requirements of the contract to keep them…
31/10/2012 at 11:33 Steven Hutton says:
I agree, I like all of those movies too, I’m a huge, huge fan. They’ll probably make a great star wars movie. (Maybe Joss Whedon will be involved somehow).
The problem with media consolidation is not that the quality of the output drops. The problem is with homogenisation and increased top-down centralised control of media.
31/10/2012 at 03:08 MrNash says:
This is what I’m worried about. More and more properties are getting put under fewer and fewer tents. Less competition, less incentive to do something different and interesting. This is just one more instance in a worrying trend that’s been picking up speed over the last few years.
31/10/2012 at 10:24 Rhuhuhuhu says:
Agree. One company buying another one is not the problem. One company claiming more and more of one market is disturbing. Now that for the first time in human history, culture is actually owned by a select few of countries, I rather saw Star Wars orphaned then in the hands of Disney.
31/10/2012 at 18:31 Universal Quitter says:
Let’s get a reality check here. I’ve seen a lot of concern about consolidation and whatnot. We’re talking about a mutli-billion dollar toy-franchise here. This isn’t wal-mart buying out the local tire shop. No one involved in this deal is worrying about the creative process, or respecting the franchise, or any of that shit.
The time to worry about the industry or Star wars itself was like, 20 years ago. This is almost capitalism coming around and eating it’s own tail, not the start of some decline.
31/10/2012 at 17:40 aliksy says:
Agreed. I was disappointed when all the people I initially heard talking about it were busy being excited about new star wars movies, and didn’t think about how one company now owns even more of our culture.
So I guess if I want to start an authoritarian regime, just promise to renew Firefly?
30/10/2012 at 23:45 Navagon says:
“Fairly sure Walt Disney himself is turning in his grave seeing whats become of them.”
The anti-Semitic, Nazi-loving fuck who had his head cut off and chucked in the fridge would have any problems with the empire that now bears his name? Really?
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got no love for modern Disney either. But to act like their origins are of purity and innocence is, to put it mildly, blinkered.
30/10/2012 at 23:55 Ich Will says:
Let’s not forget most of the Western world thought Hitler was a hero for his handling of the German crisis, Churchill and Hitler considered each other friends.
What I’m trying to say is that Disney had far more dimension to his personality than his alleged right wing views, which were hardly unique in America or Europe at the time.
31/10/2012 at 00:11 Lanfranc says:
While you’re probably right generally speaking, I do rather strongly doubt that “Churchill and Hitler considered each other friends.” As far as I know, Churchill despised Hitler since at least the early ’30s, and the feeling was probably mutual.
31/10/2012 at 00:30 yonatan27 says:
ZOMG , two Godwins in one day.
Sheesh
31/10/2012 at 00:54 Ich Will says:
My apologies, I meant Chamberlain!
31/10/2012 at 07:03 mckertis says:
“Churchill despised Hitler since at least the early ’30s”
Amazing, the man who invented concentration camps hated Hitler.
31/10/2012 at 12:58 Lanfranc says:
Churchill didn’t invent concentration camps, that was rather Roberts and Kitchener during the 2nd Boer War, which was before Churchill’s time in politics. Although he certainly thought along exactly the same lines later on.
I suspect much of his dislike for Hitler actually had to do with him being German more than anything else.
31/10/2012 at 18:32 Universal Quitter says:
Yonotan, does that mean they cancel each other out? Do we ALL lose the argument, even the readers? Is it like when ghostbusters cross the streams?
31/10/2012 at 00:43 coffeetable says:
Churchill was an utter bastard too.
31/10/2012 at 04:53 jrodman says:
Well, yes, but he was a snarky bastard, and I give him a few points for that.
31/10/2012 at 07:04 mckertis says:
“I give him a few points for that.”
Perhaps, but i wouldnt shake his hand. He doesnt wash after visiting the loo.
31/10/2012 at 16:50 DrGonzo says:
He was indeed a bastard that used concentration camps, although they cannot be compared to the ones Hitler was using.
31/10/2012 at 18:33 Universal Quitter says:
Shit, didn’t know about the Bengali Holocaust. US Public Schools for you. I withdraw my mild praise of Churchill.
31/10/2012 at 03:42 Arglebargle says:
You can find some really complementary quotes about Hitler from Ghandi. Just saying. I am sure they were, in part, intended to tweak the nose of the Empire, but still….
31/10/2012 at 07:13 aepervius says:
How many of those complimentary notes were Right after the crisis circa 1933 ? after 1938 (Kristallnacht) ? After 1939 (start of WW2) ? After 1945 (end of war , concentration camp news wide spread) ? Perspective folk. We have the help of the 20/20 hindsight. Those folk at those date did not have them.
31/10/2012 at 12:40 Arglebargle says:
You have grasped the point. Things taken out of context have the real meanings stripped out of them. The Ghandi quotes are indeed from the ealry ’30′s, and don’t represent his later views. To view Disney out of his milieu, you’ll get a somewhat jaundiced view of him.
31/10/2012 at 18:37 Universal Quitter says:
Context keeps going. Ghandi went on to free a future world power from the British Imperial boot. Disney founded a monster that sells children false hopes and shattered dreams.
Why are the two most common comparisons for Walt Disney Hitler or Ghandi? There are no shades of grey here? It’s laughable, actually.
31/10/2012 at 10:55 Jason Moyer says:
Yeah, Disney sure loved Nazis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i6ozLpNr3Q
31/10/2012 at 12:42 Max Ursa says:
afaik, Lucas has had drafts for 9 episodes since the 70′s. when he pitched them to the studios, they chose eps 4-6 and altered them to make sense as standalones (hence the alterations in the recent blueray box). as we know, these films made Lucas an ass load of wonga and renown which meant that the studio let him off his leash for the prequels. in effect Lucas had no one over him telling him ‘no, that’s stupid. do it differently.’ and we all know how that turned out. hopefully now there will be someone over Lucas’ shoulder ready to clip his ear when he starts going wonky again, to temper his ‘artistic vision.’
31/10/2012 at 18:39 Universal Quitter says:
That’s the basic reason for the prequels sucking, Lucas was never that good to begin with, more of an idea man. But does anyone really buy that he fleshed out all 9 chapters before the first one was filmed? Come on, it’s not like the first time the man has lied or exaggerated.
31/10/2012 at 19:38 Max Ursa says:
i said drafted, not fully fleshed out. he’s certainly had at least 6, else the first film would not have been titled ‘Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope’. i seem to remember reading a graphic novel based on the draft of episode 7 or 8 about 15 years ago when i was at school. however, it has been a while so accuracy on the details may vary. i do remember that Han and Leia were expecting twins, leia is now force sensitive as are her unborn. the emperor is knocking about and controlling the imperial remnants against the New Republic.
‘How is the emperor knocking about? hes dead’ i hear you say. he anticipated his demise and set up a secret cloning facility. he becomes a force ghost, possesses one of his clones and bobs your uncle. however he keeps ‘burning out’ the clones so has to keep switching. imperials captures preggers leia and he intends to possess the male fetus. Luke and co interrupt and prevent the completion of the ritual, however the male is forever stained by the darkness of the emperors spirit.
31/10/2012 at 19:50 darkChozo says:
IIRC the episode IV bit was added in later. It, however, was always episode IV after the episode numbers were there; the prequel trilogy had been planned since the original trilogy.
There’s a bunch of Expanded Universe books set after the original movies that include that stuff. Not sure if that’s based on anything Lucas wrote but there’s a hell of a lot of post-Battle of Yavin material to work with.
30/10/2012 at 23:20 Shakermaker says:
WALL-E Strikes Back, believe.
31/10/2012 at 00:57 WasabiCurry says:
I keep imagining Robot Wars with Wall-E and R2D2. Two will enter; only one will live.
31/10/2012 at 11:59 Lord Custard Smingleigh says:
FIGHT!
30/10/2012 at 23:21 Enzo says:
This is only a good thing.
30/10/2012 at 23:32 Bhazor says:
The fact that one long past it’s best company has been taken over by another long past its best company?
The fact Pixar now has to keep *two* production companies relevant?
30/10/2012 at 23:52 Navagon says:
Well… it’s not a bad thing. The only good thing that LA are capable of these days is releasing their back catalogue on GOG, and they haven’t even done that much.
31/10/2012 at 00:27 S Jay says:
True that.
Not that I believe Disney will venture into this territory, but I guess it won’t hurt it.
31/10/2012 at 00:30 Shuck says:
Given that Disney has almost completely shuttered all their console and traditional PC game development studios in favor of Facebook and mobile game development (and that this approach will doubtless have some impact on the future of LucasArts), I’m not sure I’d agree that this is only good.
31/10/2012 at 00:50 SkittleDiddler says:
The hell it is. I’ve got no problem with it from a creative standpoint — Disney just may be able to pull the Star Wars brand out of the muck and make it meaningful again (although I have my doubts). What bothers me about this merge is that Disney is an absolutely vast media conglomerate with its own powerful lobbying group, and the hydra growing another head is just going to make it hungrier in the long run.
31/10/2012 at 05:26 Shuck says:
Yeah, there’s that, too. Massive media corporations getting ever-bigger is not a good thing. Plus DIsney is not exactly one of the good guys when it comes to intellectual property laws, having successfully rewritten international copyright laws just to keep Mickey Mouse from going into the public domain.
31/10/2012 at 08:37 LionsPhil says:
Indeed.
31/10/2012 at 10:21 Cinek says:
Yea, I’m sure 15 years old kids will find it meaningful again thanks to Disney.
30/10/2012 at 23:22 Kandon Arc says:
R2-D2 for one welcomes his new rodent overlords.
30/10/2012 at 23:26 GallonOfAlan says:
The Internet is currently ALIVE with Simpsons Comic Book Guys pounding their keyboards.
30/10/2012 at 23:33 Phantoon says:
But this isn’t a bad thing.
31/10/2012 at 03:54 iniudan says:
While Trekkies watch from the side laughing like Klingon.
31/10/2012 at 08:38 LionsPhil says:
After the reboot, it’s only bringing balance to the force for there to be terrible new Star Wars films too.
31/10/2012 at 08:47 Stellar Duck says:
Wait, are you saying they they didn’t already make three new terrible Star Wars films?
31/10/2012 at 18:56 LionsPhil says:
Without bothering to look up the years, from rough memory, that triology would have been met by Insurrection and Nemesis on the ‘Trek side.
(That time the Trekkies probably came off best, yes, despite the latter.)
30/10/2012 at 23:27 pakoito says:
Everyone waiting for Firefly being remade as The Han Solo Adventures.
30/10/2012 at 23:27 Thiefsie says:
Best thing about this…. Warren Spector can move on from decidedly average of averageness games like Epic Mickey and hopefully turn his talents to Star Wars…
30/10/2012 at 23:30 Thiefsie says:
Also, John Carter was a way more ‘Star Warsy’ movie than the first two prequels and was better to boot…
31/10/2012 at 00:30 Bhazor says:
John Carter was pretty great.
Just like any big production company that accidentally makes something great Disney had no idea what to do with it.
31/10/2012 at 11:44 Lemming says:
Agreed.
31/10/2012 at 08:22 LionsPhil says:
Now this is an interesting angle to take. If Spector can get his hands on the playpen of LucasArts’ IP, I bet he could do great things.
Hell, I’ll even put up with it being Star Wars, if it’s Star Wars: The Immersive Sim Or Otherwise Quite Fascinatingly Excellent Computervisual Distraction. Republic Commando showed quite firmly that you can still eke out the good bits of the setting even in the era of Gungans.
30/10/2012 at 23:32 buzzmong says:
What upsets me most is this line in the official announcement:
“and our long term plan is to release a new Star Wars feature film every two to three years”.
Seems people don’t understand that less is often more, as a film every two to three years is simply going to dilute the brand as there’s no way with that sort of cycle that they’re going to be high quality person defining movie experiences, and it’s those experiences which have made the brand what it is.
The entire thing to me seems to be that Lucas wants to wash his hands of it and Disney exec’s want something else, something big, that they can milk over the next decade or so.
30/10/2012 at 23:36 pakoito says:
>a film every two to three years is simply going to dilute the brand
What brand? I’m as much of a fan as the next guy, even more, but it’s been diluted and dead for a while now.
>The entire thing to me seems to be that Lucas wants to wash his hands of it and Disney exec’s want something else, something big, that they can milk over the next decade or so.
At least they are thinking big. Lucas was thinking super small: kids cartoons, kewl-niverse MMOs, etc…
30/10/2012 at 23:42 buzzmong says:
Well, yes, it’s pretty dilute now, but it’s mostly ignorable. Having to see the inevitable mass advertising campaigns that will follow the new films will probably swiftly turn me from that to loathing it and what it has become.
31/10/2012 at 03:44 Caiman says:
Already reached that stage. I was cleaning up my DVD collection a while back and found the Ep1-3 DVDs. Figured I’d never watch them again, so chucked them (felt like shouting “You were supposed to bring balance to the Force!” as I did so). Couldn’t bring myself to throw out the original trilogy SEs, but they’ve been locked away in storage now, with only my original unmolested VCD box still sitting out. Honestly I can’t even stand the sound of the main theme anymore. Lucas, you bastard, you’ve turned me bitter. So this acquisition by Disney will either make no difference to me or, if they somehow pull it out of the fire and do something interesting with it, will potentially be a better situation than the current one. The first step they could take towards bringing me back into the fold would be to release the despecialised versions of the original trilogy on blu-ray.
31/10/2012 at 07:43 SiHy_ says:
Yes! That’s good! Let the anger flow through you!
31/10/2012 at 11:45 Lemming says:
Star Wars permanently died for me when Yoda started trying to sell Vodaphone, and Darth Vader selling PC World/Curries.
30/10/2012 at 23:46 Bhazor says:
I lost interest in Star Wars when it turned into the Power Rangers with any problem being overcome with the heroes pulling out light sabers and killing everyone.
That said the sequel situation will resolve itself eventually.
http://boxofficemojo.com/franchises/chart/?id=policeacademy.htm
31/10/2012 at 00:48 DiamondDog says:
Bhazor, if you’re trying to suggest that the inevitable future of Star Wars involves Ron Perlman, then I’m totally fine with that.
31/10/2012 at 07:08 mckertis says:
“it’s been diluted and dead for a while now.”
CG Clone Wars series is the best Star Wars thing in decades. Yes, miles ahead of “Star Wars in Faerun” games. I’d say it would be good even without Star Wars franchising.
31/10/2012 at 08:40 Zakski says:
you are wrong, they cancelled the amazing series by the creator of samurai jack, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Clone_Wars_(2003_TV_series), for that stuff that will look like a dog in 3 years time
31/10/2012 at 06:02 John Connor says:
Star Wars: 1977
Empire Strikes Back: 1980
Return of the Jedi: 1983
Totally diluted the brand there, right?
01/11/2012 at 16:32 Fiatil says:
Rereturn of the Jedi: 1986
Luke Jr. the Sith Lord!: 1989
Star Wars 32, Electric Boogaloo: 1992
Invasion of the SIth Bugs: 1994
Darth Vader vs. Jason: 1996
Star Wars With Some Phantom Menaces: 1999
Nope, I can’t see a problem either.
30/10/2012 at 23:39 Monchberter says:
Time to bury any dreams of a TIE Fighter remake. :(
30/10/2012 at 23:45 Tuco says:
Well, it’s not like it was a priority for LucasArts until few days ago.
In fact I don’t even care about what’s going to happen to them. They can’t become any more irrelevant at this point, they can just improve.
30/10/2012 at 23:47 Persus-9 says:
Maybe, but on the other hand Disney are far more efficient about their desire to make money. I hope GOG are getting on the phone to Disney about the money they could make by letting them sell Tie Fighter and the rest. I think Disney might find that a compelling argument whereas LucasFilm apparently didn’t.
31/10/2012 at 11:40 The Random One says:
I would bet real money that there’s already a proposal by GoG sitting at a Disney’s exec inbox, perhaps consisting only of a size 72 dollar sign.
30/10/2012 at 23:46 Suits says:
Lucas messed up Star Wars years ago anyway
30/10/2012 at 23:46 InternetBatman says:
Disney can’t mishandle the Star Wars universe any more than Lucas arts has in the past few years. Hopefully we could see some more third party games in the vein of JKII, and less like Force Unleashed (but Lego Star wars was nice for a while).
[edit] I just read that they’re making episode 7. I was wrong.
31/10/2012 at 08:25 LionsPhil says:
The image caption probably has it.
(Given the restraint they showed with Boba/Jango Fett, I’m waiting to see what kind of ass-pull they come up with to bring Distinctive IP Character Vader back, despite 6′s ending unambiguously not only killing him but replacing him with ghostly non-Sith Anakin.)
(Also, Chewie will be added entirely via CGI.)
30/10/2012 at 23:50 ReV_VAdAUL says:
Does anyone know if Star Wars licensed games might disappear from Steam etc in the near future because of this deal?
31/10/2012 at 08:26 LionsPhil says:
I wonder what GOG’s arrangements are like. Can Disney pull the plug on them selling Space Quest, and will GOG be stuck in an uncomfortable place of not even being able to redistribute it to customers who already have it in their accounts?
If you’re paranoid, make use of the DRM-lessness, back up your catalogues.
31/10/2012 at 08:50 Stellar Duck says:
Space Quest? How is that related to LucasArts? Or am I missing something?
31/10/2012 at 18:57 LionsPhil says:
I blame mornings. I was, indeed, talking complete nonsense.
30/10/2012 at 23:50 trjp says:
Is it just me or is $4bn a bit cheap for ‘Star Wars everything’???
Has Jar-Jar done THAT much damage to the franchise?
30/10/2012 at 23:58 InternetBatman says:
I feel like time has done more damage than sequels. Everyone was still excited for the prequels, even after the Star Wars Holiday Special and Ewok Adventure.
Don’t forget Indiana Jones too.
31/10/2012 at 00:12 TillEulenspiegel says:
I don’t think Star Wars as a brand is damaged nearly as much as Lucas himself. If Disney look like they’re doing something remotely decent with Star Wars, the hype is going to come back in a big big way, and the people who were kids in the 80s are going to take their children to see it.
Everyone who loved the original trilogy still does. Everyone who’s read some of the better Expanded Universe books knows the potential for what you can do in that setting. It’s just Lucas who’s been driving it in a terrible direction, from the Special Editions to the prequels to refusing to release a good quality version of the unmolested original trilogy, to this Clone Wars cartoon garbage.
No one likes the crap that Lucas has produced since 1983. But that doesn’t make Star Wars any less exciting.
31/10/2012 at 00:42 trjp says:
Some of the anime Star Wars stuff is excellent – but much of it is pretty sappy.
That said, the SWTOR intro cinematics are awesome – better than anything Lucas has done for eons.
31/10/2012 at 01:50 Persus-9 says:
In point of fact there are some loonies who really don’t feel that way. They do feel that the first three movies have been ruined by prequels. I know because I’m one of them. It is irrational but it is the way I feel. I was an obsessive Star Wars fan in the late 80s and early to mid 90s but first some of the novels started to erode my love slightly, then the special editions slightly more and then the prequels came in and ground my remaining affection into a fine dust. I haven’t watched the original films since and I haven’t been able to bring myself to play any of the more recent computer games in spite of the sure knowledge that if I could just approach them from a neutral standpoint I’d like some of them. It is strange and irrational but I can only compare it to being really hurt by someone. I guess it is just a function of how obsessed I was before.
31/10/2012 at 05:02 jrodman says:
The Star Wars films, especially A New Hope, were simple, effective, accessible films, with a fair amount of imagination and chutzpah. It was kind of a “perfect accident” kind of thing where they vaulted into popular conciousness they way they did. Space no longer captures public imagination the way it did in the late 70s and 80s, and the films are running on nostalgia for any popularity they retain. I don’t really see them coming back to anything like their former self unless some disney crew hits it out of the park repeatedly, and even then I doubt they’d do more than be fairly decently selling films.
31/10/2012 at 07:11 mckertis says:
“Clone Wars cartoon garbage.”
That “garbage” is undoubtedly an excellent series, with truly good episodes every once in a while. Unless you are talking about that crap made by Samurai Jack creator.
31/10/2012 at 08:42 Zakski says:
well you can just go straight to hell, the cg stuff is absolute rubbish, but the series done by samurai jack was the best
31/10/2012 at 11:49 Lemming says:
Lolwut? The ‘samurai jack’ one as you put it is miles ahead of the Clone Wars CGI borefest.
31/10/2012 at 13:49 Skabooga says:
You did not just diss some of Genndy Tartakovsky’s work! That man is a national treasure, and both Samurai Jack and his Clone War series were inspired.
31/10/2012 at 14:11 SkittleDiddler says:
You could not be more wrong. Ever.
31/10/2012 at 04:51 Treymoney says:
Indiana Jones isn’t technically part of this deal, due to some of the rights being owned by Paramount. The franchise wasn’t even considered during the valuation of Lucasfilm.
31/10/2012 at 00:05 Ich Will says:
It wasn’t just Jar jar, it was the yes-men who Lucas surrounded himself with failing to do anything for the brand other than kissing up to the boss.
I for one am looking forward to Star wars Land at Disney :)
31/10/2012 at 04:17 Moraven says:
Seems like a steal. They did not just only get Star Wars but the tech companies that seem to be involved in any movie that has special effects (most of them).
30/10/2012 at 23:54 ReV_VAdAUL says:
It is really hard to know how new games will go regarding Star Wars, I mean what Iger says is worrying but there have been Marvel games released since Disney bought them.
31/10/2012 at 05:34 Shuck says:
The Marvel games are all licensed, though. LucasArts actually makes games themselves, whereas Disney is out of the AAA game business these days, preferring to own studios that make the more lucrative social and mobile games. So we may get more licensed Star Wars games but it could effectively be the end of LucasArts.
30/10/2012 at 23:55 PacketOfCrisps says:
I want to make a joke but I feel like I would just be taking the mickey.
30/10/2012 at 23:57 Lanfranc says:
It would be rather goofy to make fun of the matter at this point.
30/10/2012 at 23:59 InternetBatman says:
I’m tired of pluto-crats ruining beloved franchises.
31/10/2012 at 00:22 MacTheGeek says:
If there’s a daisy chain of puns, it must be an RPS comment section.
31/10/2012 at 00:30 sasayan says:
There are minnie ways this could go right or wrong. Hopefully they won’t be a scrooge about licensing deals.
31/10/2012 at 00:17 mrmalodor says:
Disney isn’t exactly well known for producing great video games. I wouldn’t expect a Full Throttle 2 or a TIE/X-Wing sequel. The most they will probably do is publish the classics on GoG. On the other hand, they must have some sort of plans if they were willing to spend that much money.
31/10/2012 at 02:48 The Random One says:
Disney’s never been too much into games though, have they? They have someone create a platformer with Mickey or Donald once or twice per console generations and hope they’ll have a Mickey’s Magic Mirror and not a Generic Platformer #247, but don’t care either way. They were probably looking into the films rather than the games.
Someone who knows the market better than me said that Disney has an iron grip on the female child demographic due to the whole Disney Princesses thing but can’t consolidate their grip on the male child, and their aquisition of Marvel was an attempt to do this. If that is so this seems to be another such attempt. Yes, they bought Marvel and Star Wars because they think it’ll appeal the best to children.
31/10/2012 at 03:19 ClockworkTiger says:
I hate to say it, but the chances of getting a Full Throttle 2 or new X-Wing/TIE Fighter game out of an independent Lucasarts weren’t really any better. The glory days of great in-house developed titles at Lucasarts have been over for a long time. The internally developed games slowed to a trickle and eventually stopped all together. Any noise coming from them about restarting their own productions always seemed to die with the next high level executive changing of the guard, which happened with alarming frequency. All Lucasarts was at the end was the company that licensed out the rights to make Star Wars games. That’s still something pretty big from a business perspective, but creatively they died a long, long time ago.
31/10/2012 at 00:44 Stomatopodal Pride says:
Alright, I will be the one guy who sees storm weather and goes for a stroll on an open field (possibly carrying a metal rod and pointing it to the sky).
The acquisition is very notable, but why are we concerned about Star Wars?
I have watched the original trilogy (not the remastered edition, though) before the prequel series; I found the former one step above a boorish blockbuster and the latter… well, er, about on par but with more cinematic whizbang. My memory of the prequels is quite blurred, though, so I might have removed what made them so loathed by the Internets at large. Needless to say, the countless videogames and subproductions didn’t exactly help to harden the brand and seemed to betray an embarassingly merchandised effort.
Could someone explain, without acrimony, why is the Star Wars brand still held is such high consideration? I can understand the iconic and emotional value of its legacy, but I can’t help to be genuinely puzzled by the endless amount of fans that it gathers.
(Again, I am not baiting. Imagine that you had to explain why $CULTMOVIE is actually good to a five-year old who barely knows how to spell “entertainment”.)
31/10/2012 at 07:25 aepervius says:
Easy, baby boomer = 1946-1964 are by 1973 between 12 and 27 were impressed in mass by a fantasy action flick which went over 3 films. There wasn’t many of those back then (nowadays there are a lot). As far as serial action film they had all the archetype a good fantasy needs , the princess, the rogue, the warrior, the redeempted foe, the evil archteype. See campbell the heroe of a 1000 faces. Combine those two facts : a lot of people from the boom in search of themselves and entertainment, a good fantasy film with all archetype, and you get the fandom we get today. I am willing to bet that in , say, 10 or 20 years a lot of the current generation of kids will have more attachment to harry potter than to star wars. In other word what you see as fandom for star wars will die out with baby boomer , but harry potter fandom will rise. Only to be replaced with fandom in 40 years :p.
31/10/2012 at 00:58 Radiant says:
Sean Bean as Indiana Jones.
If past roles are any indication finally someone will kill that thieving bastard.
31/10/2012 at 01:01 Radiant says:
“If money is all that you love. Then that’s what you’ll receive” – Scrooge McDuck
31/10/2012 at 01:02 Radiant says:
“Somebody get this big walking carpet out of my way” – Princess Jasmine
31/10/2012 at 01:12 DiamondDog says:
“I’m the king of the swingers.” – Darth Vader.
Wait, I’m not doing this right.
31/10/2012 at 01:09 Radiant says:
“I am your father” – Geppetto
31/10/2012 at 01:09 Radiant says:
“Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!” – Pinocchio
31/10/2012 at 01:13 Radiant says:
“Here take this, wave it at anything that slithers” – Baloo
31/10/2012 at 01:22 Radiant says:
“You think a princess and a guy like me?” – Dopey
31/10/2012 at 01:23 Radiant says:
“No!” – 6 dwarves
31/10/2012 at 01:36 Dunbine says:
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” – Bambi’s mom.
31/10/2012 at 02:24 Henson says:
“So what I told you was true, from a certain point of view.” – Pinocchio
31/10/2012 at 02:44 Skabooga says:
“I have altered the deal. Pray I don’t alter it further” – Jafar
31/10/2012 at 02:49 The Random One says:
You’ve gone too far, Radiant. Now you must take a time-out. In carbonite.
31/10/2012 at 05:33 Droopy The Dog says:
“Never tell me the odds” – Buzz Lightyear
31/10/2012 at 07:38 atticus says:
IT’S A TRAP! – Robin Hood
31/10/2012 at 09:48 wyrmsine says:
“Keep your distance, but don’t look like you’re trying to keep your distance. Fly casual” – Dick Van Dyke
31/10/2012 at 12:01 Lemming says:
“Prepare for ground assault!” – Mulan
31/10/2012 at 12:22 Elltot says:
“It’s all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense” – Tinkerbell
31/10/2012 at 01:03 povu says:
Hopefully Disney is more interested in free money and puts up some old school Lucasarts games on GOG.
31/10/2012 at 07:29 aepervius says:
On the contrary expect many many more fan project legal take down. Disney are *VERY* agressive at defending IP, they are more or less the driving lobying initiative behind some of the acronym hatted like MPAA, and they lobbied a lot on the past to get copyright prologuated (to the point that only steambot willy was recentely open to public (if last round of copyright bribing did not put it back in disney’s hand)).
I expect if anything that they will get their IP back very agressively into their hands.
31/10/2012 at 01:09 DarlingDildo says:
I swear to god, selling the company to Disney is the smartest thing ol’ Georgy has done since A New Hope. Good riddance, I say. Maybe now we can get some proper Star Wars movies. Old Republic, 1313…
On a side note, I think Lucas sold the company either because he was getting supremely poor, or he’s really sick.
31/10/2012 at 01:18 gulag says:
A film every 2-3 years translates as “We’re going to cast Justin Beber as a Jedi, and any other Disney Club graduates we have handy”, and we can expect a Glee crossover sometime around Summer 2018.
31/10/2012 at 01:18 Servizio says:
So, George Lucas got four billion dollars out of all this?
31/10/2012 at 02:13 Lanfranc says:
Yep. 50% each in cash and Disney shares.
31/10/2012 at 01:20 Isear says:
Please let this mean that, if we ever get it, that Kingdom Hearts 3 will have Star Wars and/or Indiana Jones themed worlds.
31/10/2012 at 02:46 tyren says:
I didn’t even think of that.
My mind, she is blown.
31/10/2012 at 01:22 wsworin says:
Wow, this was unexpected. But interesting nonetheless.
31/10/2012 at 01:38 Nick says:
Pretty much echoing the sentiment that they can’t do anything worse to it than has been done in recent years, so meh, they might even do something good.
31/10/2012 at 02:07 MaximKat says:
Tatooineville?
31/10/2012 at 02:37 rockman29 says:
“We’re likely to focus more on social and mobile than we are on console,” said Disney CEO Robert Iger during a conference call. ”We’ll look opportunistically at console, most likely in licensing rather than publishing, but we think that given the nature of these characters and how well known they are, and the storytelling, that they lend themselves quite nicely, as they’ve already demonstrated to the other platforms.”
Please license responsibly!
Oh how do I miss the days of Factor 5 working on Rogue Squadron! They are still ‘looking for projects in the industry’ according to Wikipedia. Make it happen, Disney!
http://www.factor5.de/
31/10/2012 at 02:55 fish99 says:
Hopefully Disney can now collect up every copy of Episodes 1-3 ever made, destroy them, then wipe all knowledge of them from the minds of everyone unlucky enough to have seen them.
31/10/2012 at 08:16 Radwulf says:
Maybe that’s how they intend on recouping their money. If we get paid to purge the prequels we’ll get back our investment in no time!
31/10/2012 at 03:18 MadTinkerer says:
So Kingdom Hearts III is going to have a Monkey Island level, then?
One can only hope…
31/10/2012 at 04:10 Shralla says:
Thanks, Nathan. Literally none of the other stories I read on this subject mentioned Lucasarts at all. I feel like Disney will have less impact on the gaming sector than they will on the movie aspect, however.
31/10/2012 at 04:21 jennifercuper says:
I love you mickey and gufi you are my favorite cartoon .
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20121028203417AAWSrIM
31/10/2012 at 08:14 adonf says:
THIS is a very very smart spambot. I’m still not buying your crap but congrats on making me click
31/10/2012 at 04:33 Bob says:
Didn’t George Lucas write the first three, chronologically speaking? Unless he or Kasdan do the scripts, I don’t really see much chance of a return to the magic of the first three.
What does it mean for games? Darth Vader will be introduced to Steampunk Mickey via DLC. May the Farce be with you.
31/10/2012 at 12:01 Koozer says:
George was ill during a lot of filming the first 3, and the Ewoks were his idea. Make of this what you will.
31/10/2012 at 13:03 Arglebargle says:
Lucas had a lot of help on the various drafts of Star Wars. Some of the early drafts are quite embarrassing. Leigh Brackett did an uncredited pass on the first script towards the beginning of shooting the first movie as well, iirc. Lucas was good at the high concept part, but things got worse the more in charge of things he became.
Ewoks, folks.
31/10/2012 at 17:55 Bob says:
Ahh, I didn’t know that, cheers. At least Industrial Light and Magic and THX came into being because of Star Wars, they’re better legacies than Jar Jar Binks and to a lesser extent the Ewoks.
31/10/2012 at 06:54 Hunchback says:
Gief Grim Fandango 2! NAO!
Oh aaand and and aaa decent Monkey Island again, ok?
Meh, let’s hope licensing will remain possible for people with ideas.
31/10/2012 at 07:30 Nix Nada says:
I wonder what this will mean for fan-made films and games. Lucas was always pretty okay about people using the sound effects, etc. I don’t know if Disney will be more protective and Cease & Desisty.
31/10/2012 at 08:24 chickenhawk says:
Disney didn’t fuck up marvel that bad. Avengers and Iron Man 2 were decent.. I think in the movie departement we will be ok.. In games.. well i hope they out source it to someone decent..
31/10/2012 at 09:01 Groove says:
On the down side, more Star Wars movies. On the upside, Lucas won’t be directing them. Hmmm.
31/10/2012 at 10:41 -Spooky- says:
What´s next? The first Marvel x Star Wars Crossover? The Punisher vs Darth Vader – alright then.
31/10/2012 at 10:59 Lemming says:
I’n really ambivalent about this. On the one hand, I’m glad Lucas isn’t the sole person responsible for Star Wars any more, on the other I wish it’d gone to anyone else. Disney already have Marvel. This kind of monopoly is never a good idea.
31/10/2012 at 11:13 cHeal says:
I wonder how this might effect the current efforts by gog.com to acquire the LucasArts’ back catalogue.
31/10/2012 at 12:29 rb2610 says:
It did look like George Lucas has lost it after I’ve been seeing ads for a straight to dvd movie directed by him for the last couple of weeks. Something to do with pilots, it looked intensely forgettable.
I just hope we somehow end up with a Star Wars Battlefront 3 out of this…
31/10/2012 at 14:00 jonfitt says:
Finally, Yoda Stories 2!
31/10/2012 at 15:02 dinkynola says:
Groan, unless they release HD remakes of Tie Fighter and then X-Wing.
31/10/2012 at 15:11 fco says:
Tim Schafer has expressed my fear on this perfecly: https://twitter.com/TimOfLegend/status/263420575396020224
31/10/2012 at 15:56 Ureshi says:
The Empire Strikes Back…. Again!!!
31/10/2012 at 17:06 JBantha says:
Facebook social Monkey Island point and click and click and click adventure.
“Ask me About
LOOMKingdom of Hearts”31/10/2012 at 20:45 belgand says:
This is the scariest thing to happen all day. Great job Disney, somehow you won Halloween.
31/10/2012 at 20:48 LionsPhil says:
Hahaha.
31/10/2012 at 23:43 Text_Fish says:
I’d like a Bethesda-made Star Wars RPG please.
Whatever happens, I don’t want Monkey Island, Grim Fandango or Maniac Mansion to be allowed to fall in to the mediocre-making hands of Telltale.