Click here to see the logos of LucasArts
Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts Entertainment Company, LLC between 1990 and 2021) is the video game licensor of Lucasfilm. It's in charge of doling out the license for all official Star Wars and Indiana Jones and all other Lucasfilm properties.
Founded in 1982, the studio was also a game development firm until 2013, famous for producing adventure games like Full Throttle and Day of the Tentacle as well as the Monkey Island series (and later, the Mercenaries series), as well as a series of World War II and Star Wars-themed flight sims developed by Lawrence Holland's Totally Games! studio, mainly Battlehawks 1942, Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe and the X-Wing and TIE Fighter space combat games.
It was once a powerhouse creative studio, with The '90s marking the golden age of the company, a period when it produced many iconic Adventure Games and Space Simulation Games, often ranked among the best games ever. The firm gradually changed its focus towards outsourced Star Wars products after Grim Fandango returned very poor sale figures despite receiving many Game of the Year awards.
Subsequent titles published or developed in-house include Fracture, Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction (note that its sequel, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames had its publishing rights given to Electronic Arts by developer Pandemic) and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. However, the sequel, The Force Unleashed II would prove to be the last in-house game developed by LucasArts; soon afterward, in the summer of 2008, the studio was disbanded, with LucasArts announcing that it would become largely a title publisher. Their financial state also led to the cancellation of numerous in-development titles, and indirectly caused Battlefront III developer Free Radical to go under due to withholding payments and cancellation fees. The last several years of the company were marred by poor sales, layoffs, and multiple changes of leadership. Internal development had all but ceased, though they still dedicated resources to keeping existing IPs afloat, such as Updated Rereleases of the first two Monkey Island games, the first digital releases of some of their out-of-print catalog titles, and a collaboration with Telltale Games to created an episodic sequel to the IP.
After a $4 billion buyout of its matrix Lucasfilm, the videogame branch and its intellectual properties were acquired by The Walt Disney Company in 2012. Though initially Disney announced the studio's operations and projects would remain undisturbed (such as Star Wars 1313 which was still in active development), they later announced the halting of all internal development on April 3, 2013 in favor of becoming a licensing entity; most of the staff was laid off, though the company is still open as a licensor.
Many LucasArts alumni became major players in the game industry after their tenures at the studio ended. Ron Gilbert and Tim Schafer both started their careers in games at the studio. Sierra was their main Adventure Game rival during both companies' heydey. Double Fine & Telltale Games, both founded by LucasArts alumni turned into Spiritual Successors of the types of games made in the 80s and early 90s. Fellow Disney subsidiary Pixar originated as LucasArts' "Graphics Group", before being spun off into a separate corporate entity.
One of the most memorable aspects of the company's long history is its logo. Originally designed as a right angle with the words "Lucas" and "Arts" written on each perpendicular line. Sitting atop the angle was a golden nondescript person, dubbed "the Goldenguy." Several games featured amusing gags involving the eponymous Goldenguy and the logo itself, especially in the late 90s to early 2000s. (Though, despite its reputation, the company also used standard logos just as often.) In the mid 2000s, the "L" design was retired in favor of a more standard typeface, with the Goldenguy being redesigned. The gags were all but scrapped in favor of using standard logos exclusively. The one notable exception were the Force Unleashed games, which featured the Goldenguy throwing a lightsaber and using force powers.
LucasArts' famed graphic adventure games include, in chronological order:
- Labyrinth (1986)
- Maniac Mansion (1987)
- Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders (1988)
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure (1989)
- Loom (1990)
- The Secret of Monkey Island (1990)
- The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (2009)
- Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge (1992)
- Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge: Special Edition (2010)
- Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (1992)
- Day of the Tentacle (1993)
- Sam & Max Hit the Road (1993)
- Full Throttle (1995)
- The Dig (1995)
- The Curse of Monkey Island (1997) - End of the SCUMM Point-and-Click era.
- Grim Fandango (1998)
- Escape from Monkey Island (2000)
Related to those above, but not made by LucasArtsnote , are:
- Tales of Monkey Island (2009) - Made and copyrighted by Telltale Games.
- Grim Fandango Remastered (2015) - Made by Double Fine Productions, after they bought the rights to the original.
- Day of the Tentacle: Special Edition (2016) - Also made by Double Fine Productions after buying the franchise.
- Thimbleweed Park (2017) - Developed by former LucasArts staff as a homage to their previous adventure games under their new company Terrible Toybox.
- Full Throttle Remastered (2017) - Once again made by Double Fine Productions after buying the franchise.
- Return to Monkey Island (2022) - Made by Ron Gilbert, under license by LucasFilm Games, marking also the return of the old logo and name of the company.
The company's Vaporware projects that never saw the light of the day include:
- Vanishing Act aka Magic Box
- Cancelled in 1998. - Sam & Max Plunge Through Space - Cancelled in 2002.
- Full Throttle: Payback - Cancelled in 2003.
- Full Throttle: Hell on Wheels - Cancelled in 2003.
- Sam & Max: Freelance Police - Cancelled in 2004. Former developers formed Telltale Games, which worked on another Sam & Max game.
- Handsome Halibut - Mystery project announced in 2009; presumably vaporware.
- Pipe Dream: The Flooz Must Flow - An unfulfilled idea by Michael Stemmle.
- Maniac Mansion: Night of a Thousand Tentacles - Another unfulfilled idea by Michael Stemmle.
LucasArts' Star Wars titles include (hardly a complete list; see also Star Wars Legends and Star Wars Expanded Universe):
- Super Star Wars (1992) - Developed by Sculptured Software.
- Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1993)
- Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1994)
- Rebel Assault (1993) - A Full Motion Video Rail Shooter.
- Rebel Assault II: The Hidden Empire (1995)
- The X-Wing series:
- X-Wing (1993)
- TIE Fighter (1994)
- X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter (1997)
- X-Wing Alliance (1999)
- The Dark Forces Saga:
- Dark Forces (1995)
- Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (1997)
- Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (2002) - Developed by Raven Software.
- Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy (2003) - Developed by Raven Software.
- Shadows of the Empire (1996)
- Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi (1997)
- Star Wars: Rebellion (1997)
- Yoda Stories (1997)
- Rogue Squadron (1998) - Developed by Factor 5.
- Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader (2001)
- Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike (2003)
- The Phantom Menace (1999)
- Star Wars Episode I: Racer (1999)
- Racer Revenge (2002)
- Battle for Naboo (2000) - Developed by Factor 5.
- Star Wars Demolition (2000)
- Force Commander (2000)
- Star Wars: Episode I - Jedi Power Battles (2000)
- Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds (2001) - Developed by Ensemble Studios. Based on the Age of Empires II engine.
- Star Wars: Obi-Wan (2001)
- Star Wars Starfighter (2001)
- Jedi Starfighter (2002)
- Star Wars: Bounty Hunter (2002)
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2002) - Developed by Pandemic Studios. Unrelated to the animated series of the same name.
- Star Wars: Galaxies (2003) - Developed by Sony Online Entertainment. A Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game that was eventually shut down in 2011.
- Knights of the Old Republic (2003) - Developed by BioWare.
- Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (2004) - Developed by Obsidian Entertainment on BioWare's suggestion, but suffered heavy Executive Meddling from LucasArts and was Christmas Rushed.
- Star Wars: Battlefront (2004) - Developed by Pandemic Studios.
- Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005) - Developed by Pandemic Studios.
- Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron (2007) - Developed by Rebellion.
- Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron (2009) - Developed by Rebellion.
- Star Wars: Republic Commando (2005)
- Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith (2005) - Developed by The Collective.
- Empire at War (2006) - Developed by Petroglyph.
- The Force Unleashed (2008) - PS2/PSP/Wii version developed by Krome Studios.
- The Force Unleashed II (2010)
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Jedi Alliance (2008)
- The Clone Wars - Lightsaber Battles (2008) - Developed by Krome Studios.
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes (2009) - Developed by Krome Studios.
- Angry Birds Star Wars (2012) - Developed by Rovio Entertainment.
- Angry Birds Star Wars II (2013)
- All LEGO Star Wars games made prior to the Disney acquisition of Lucasfilm. Developed by Traveller's Tales.
LucasArts' flight simulators include, in chronological order:
- Battlehawks 1942 (1988)
- Their Finest Hour (1989)
- Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe (1991)
- Secret Weapons Over Normandy (2003)
- The X-Wing series (1993-1999) is considered a
Spiritual Successor, developed by the same studio, Totally Games with an evolved engine and many inherited features literally Recycled In Space.
Other LucasArts games:
- Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction (2005) - Developed by Pandemic Studios. Once again, note that its sequel went to Electronic Arts.
- Fracture (2008) - Developed by Day 1 Studios.
- Afterlife (1996)
- Outlaws (1997)
- The Indiana Jones series:
- Indiana Jones' Greatest Adventures (1994) - Developed by Factor 5.
- Indiana Jones and His Desktop Adventures (1996)
- Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine (1999)
- Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb (2003) - Developed by The Collective.
- Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings (2009) - Developed by Behaviour Interactive.
- Gladius (2003)
- Lucidity (2009)
- Defenders of Dynatron City (1992)
- Zombies Ate My Neighbors (1993) - Published by Konami.
- Ghoul Patrol (1994)
- Big Sky Trooper (1995)
- Metal Warriors (1995) - Published by Konami.
- Herc's Adventures (1997)
- Wrath Unleashed (2004) - Developed by The Collective.
- Thrillville (2006) - Developed by Frontier Developments.
- Thrillville: Off the Rails (2007)
Prior to the formation of LucasArts, Lucasfilm created several titles for the Atari, Commodore 64 and other 8-bit home computers. These were developed under the Lucasfilm Games banner and published by various companies:
- Rescue on Fractalus!
- Ballblazer
- Koronis Rift
- The Eidolon
- PHM Pegasus
- Strike Fleet
