Canceled Star Wars projects revealed

In the wake of LucasArts' closure earlier this year, new details on canceled Star Wars projects have come to light. Kotaku reports today, citing a number of sources familiar with the matter, that the studio canned multiple games in a variety of genres.

One of the projects was Smuggler, a cross-platform multiplayer game that was reportedly going to allow users to play as a customizable character within the Star Wars universe, "smuggling and trading between Facebook, tablets, and consoles."

Another reportedly canceled game was Outpost, a Star Wars version of Zynga's popular social game FarmVille, allowing players to build empires. A third game--Death Star for iOS--was to put players in control of the Empire's iconic hulking space ship, though no other details were provided.

In addition to canceled games, LucasArts was reportedly planning to launch its own spin on Electronic Arts' download service Origin. This LucasArts-owned network was said to be planned as a means to help the studio distribute Star Wars games and assist in the completion of in-app purchases.

One source said this service was scheduled to launch alongside Star Wars: First Assault, the previously revealed multiplayer-focused online game, which would have included a microtransaction store of some kind.

These games were all connected as part of a larger LucasArts ecosystem before being canceled, people with knowledge of the matter said. Cancellations are not atypical in the industry, but LucasArts reportedly canceled games that were nearly completed. For example, Kotaku reports that Death Star and Outpost had already gone through QA testing when they were canned.

"Projects get canceled all the time," one source said. "You'd hope that your process can identify problem projects before they're finished.

Also in the report, it was revealed that a Day of the Tentacle remake was in development. Though it was supposedly never officially greenlit, one person familiar with the game said it was 80 percent complete.