LucasArts president steps down
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
High-level turnover at publisher continues with Paul Meegan leaving the company after two years.
LucasArts president Paul Meegan has stepped down from his role at the game publisher, a statement from parent company Lucasfilm provided to Polygon reveals. Meegan joined LucasArts in June 2010, and oversaw the launch of Lego Star Wars III, the reveal of Star Wars 1313 in May, and was responsible for general Stars Wars brand management.
"Development on all current LucasArts projects will proceed," reads a line from Lucasfilm's statement. "Paul has been a valuable member of the Lucasfilm leadership team and we wish him the best in his future endeavors. We remain committed to our current projects and will be re-evaluating LucasArts' leadership needs to ensure that we make the right decisions to keep the studio focused."
In his own statement, Meegan said LucasArts has "come a long away" and he is "extremely proud" of what the teams at the studio have accomplished. He said there are a number of projects that have yet to be announced, and that he wishes the company "all the best" moving forward.
Before joining LucasArts, Meegan served as CEO at Epic Games China, where his duties included outsourcing Epic's game development and content production services, as well as licensing the Unreal Engine in greater China and southeast Asia.
In addition to his work at Epic Games China, Meegan has served as executive vice president of production at Ubisoft Shanghai, studio director at Jaleco Entertainment, executive vice president at Ubisoft Montreal, and as president and founder of Sinister Games, Inc, which was obtained by Ubisoft in 2000.
LucasArts has not yet said who will replace Meegan as president.
Meegan's departure from LucasArts follows news from last month, when creative director Clint Hocking announced he was planning to leave the company after two years. Hocking now works at Half-Life and Portal studio Valve.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
94 comments
Good! Hopefully we will see more Star Wars universe games in the future which I hope includes further adventures of Luke Skywalker for example.
1 Like Good riddance. I'm still waiting for KOTOR 3 and X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter 2. It's been years...
I hope this won't affect new Star Wars 1313 game. I really have for a new Bounty Hunter game.
Sounds like this guy has his finger in way too many pies & can't decide what to do.
How can you manage effectively bouncing around all over the place like he's done?
Personally this would make me happy if the company heads decided they made a huge mistake with SWTOR and decided to revamp Galaxies in an updated version for the fans of that game.
Develop a sandbox/themepark morph to appease both sides of the customer base and leave it in the original trilogy time frame.
Plug it in and let it grow without tinkering with it every 9 months. And let my people enjoy that game again in a refreshed setting.
1 Like The last decent Star Wars game was the first Force Unleashed game because it had such an excellent story, now were getting crap like the Star Wars Kinect.... It really sucks; I'm sorry if I offend you LucasArts, but in my opinion you have been making turns for the worst in recent years... Going from great games like Battlefront 2, Republic Commando, and KOTOR, to games like Star Wars Kinect, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars Adventures is not good at all. If you were to announce a Battlefront 3, I would try to preorder it as soon as possible.
1 Like "He said there are a number of projects that have yet to be announced..."
I'm crossing my fingers hoping that this is Battlefront 3, but LucasArts has let me down on multiple occasions before...
3 Like I really think Force Unleashed 2 was the stupidest idea Lucas Arts has ever had. The original Force Unleashed had its issues, but its story was better than all three prequels combined and it ended up being a really memorable experience. Instead of cultivating a lot of feedback and taking a good 3-4 years making a truly worthy sequel with a new story, they rush out an unimpressive sequel that reuses Starkiller, nullifying the awesome ending(s) of the original game's impact with some crap about a clone and packing it with about 3 hours of gameplay.
1 Like So they do bugger all for two years yet they are proud of this? 1313 looks good but there is no battlefront 3 or force unleashed 3 to make up for the force unleashed 2's story.
My god these people don't deserve the job.
1 Like You have to wonder if some of these people are stepping away to avoid blame, or if they have been somewhat pushed aside by the guilt of ruining their chance at the helm. Or even worse yet, they see that the gaming industry itself is being overrun by greed and evil.
Pretty much an accurate representation of what Lucasarts has been putting out these days:
1 Like "there are a number of projects that have yet to be announced" Wishful thinking: New Jedi Knight/KotOR or something equally awesome.
7 Like I want a game about Han Solo. Rollin' with Chewbacca, smugglin' stuff, winnin' the Falcon from Lando and pilotin' it around the galaxy.... is that too crazy?
3 Like @Cappuccin0 I like that idea. There are so many unexplored opportunities with the Star Wars universe, yet they put so much effort into making crappy lego games about the clone wars :/
2 Like @Cappuccin0 That sounds like the Han Solo trilogy book series. Wouldn't mind if they made a game with inspiration from some cool book.
2 Like Star Wars games are much fun when they're done right, it's a universe unlike any other. I just want them to make the games good, like Jedi Academy. Still love that game.
2 Like @Ladiesman17 Not gonna happen. LucasArts used to be entertainment company, but it's a concrete part of Star Wars empire for 10 year at least. It's extremely sad, how much this company fell down. Their heritage is fantastic, but all was lost due horrible SW $hit. Such a shame. ;(
@Vojtass If a fall of many franchises is necessary for one great STAR WARS game, it's worth it. ;)
Pretty short stint. Wonder if he was forced out, or bailed out of the sinking ship that is Lucas Arts before it was too late.
12 Like New Lucasarts President: "Right- halt everything. We're scrapping 1313 and putting all effort into Battlefront 3. After that, we'll split resources in two, with one half working on special editions of our entire 90's back catalogue starting with TIE Fighter and Loom, while the other half gets busy on KOTOR 3. Once those are done, we'll deliver a Republic Commando 2, a new game in the X-Wing series, and then spend the next 5 years giving Star Wars a rest and working on original IPs."
1 Like @brok While I would absolutely love a new entry in their flight sim series (Tie Fighter is probably my favorite game of all time), I don't think modern gamers could handle it. It would be streamlined and "modernized" to death.
1 Like @RapidFirE53211 The lure of the Dark Side is difficult to resist. Once you've started down the path of streamling/hand holding, you will go ever deeper into crappyness, unless you can find your way back to the light.
@RapidFirE53211 The reality of things has never been a focus when companies decide which groups to focus on. This belittling behavior is seen in movies too, http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ViewersAreMorons. Historically, the perception of the uneducated, downright stupid mob has been around for ages, and attitudes die hard, so it's not surprising that it lives on today. However, there is nothing stopping us today from criticizing this (you could get into real trouble in the 16th century if you protested against this point-of-view). Technology advances fast, people's perceptions don't, but one can hope.
1 Like @Hurvl It's so pathetic :/. I picked up and mastered the Star Wars flight sims at the age of 10.
1 Like @RapidFirE53211 New Lucasarts President: Never fear! We understand the compelling gameplay of the original, and will ensure any follow up meets the same level of complexity. Here at the NEW Lucasarts, we understand the demands of a space sim like TIE Fighter. That's why we also have Rogue Squadron; for the casual crowd.
2 Like The last time Star Wars games were AAA was on the original Xbox, with Republic Commando and the KotOR games. Ever since then, it's been a pretty heavy disaster of Sonic proportions. Looks like Lucasarts should have pushed for KotOR 3 over an MMO with the license. Even someone with an extra chromosome could tell you that would be something that appealed to a broader market and would have a longer sales cycle.
1 Like star wars games are fun when they are made properly, but lucas arts has been lead by a bunch of yes men, that allow george lucas to drive the brand into the ground, cause what the hell was star wars kinect, what happened to the force unleashed 2. if they want to survive then get a guy or girl with big set of balls
This comment has been deleted
2 Like @chilly-chill i liked the first one, but the gameplay was a bit clunky. if they mixed the gameplay of the second, with the story and everything else of the first game, it couldve been really good. one force unleashed game, anyway.
7 Like Lucas Arts needs to make sequels to the games that made them a great gaming company: Dark Forces, Jedi Knight, Battlefront, KOTOR, Monkey Island, and Republic Commando. They have a great back catalogue of sellers that people have been wanting over the years but they're blind to what their fan base wants.
2 Like @rasterror Yeah, not to mention with Star Wars alone there's an untapped expanded galaxy that nobody has even attempted to do anything in. the plot for Timothy Zahn's Heir To The Empire, Dark Force Rising and The Last Command would make a great RPG trilogy, it has one of the greatest villains since Vader and Palpatine, Thrawn was smart and that's far more dangerous in a villain. Shadows Of The Empire on N64 was based on a book, licencing the rights shouldn't be hard. If they can pitch TFU they can pith that trilogy.....
1 Like I think Lucasarts needs to pull a Nintendo and look back to what used to make them so great.
Almost all of the comments below are asking/begging for a new Battlefront game. They could even redo old graphic adventure scumm games and make a killing on Steam,PSN,XBLA etc.
To be fair I honestly enjoyed the first Force Unleashed. And my younger nephews play the living crap out of the Lego games so i wont dog on those. But Lucasarts really seemed to lose its soul when a few guys like Schaffer left.
4 Like good maybe they'll remember they made games other then star wars themed games and if the want to keep beating that horse how bout a new battlefront or rouge squadron
4 Like Good, keep chopping out the dead wood and maybe the next might remember a series or 2 they did that aren't fucking STAR WARS.
1 Like @DarkSaber2k I hear you, and I agree to some extent (I still have every single graphic adventure they ever made, including those on floppy disks), but don't forget that those games left along with guys like Gilbert and Schaffer.
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