Force Unleashed team downsized too

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 27th June 2008

The Force Unleashed tells the story of Darth Vader's secret apprentice on a secret mission.

It was revealed today that Lucasarts, which has been downsizing it's development teams for a few weeks now and closing down a few internal studios, has also spread the bad news to the team behind The Force Unleashed - otherwise known as the only good-looking Star Wars game since Jedi Knight II.

Lucasarts announced lay-offs only a few weeks ago, but stressed that no announced games were being canceled or delayed as a result and that the company was very much committed to ~~milking the Star Wars franchise~~ internal development still.

Reports indicade that several of long-standing members of Lucasarts' development teams had been fired, including those who had previously worked on the Grim Fandango, X-Wing and Full Throttle games.

Joystiq spoke to one ex-member of the Force Unleashed team, who said that the lay-offs had come just as work on the game was starting to wind down. The source, who wished to remain anonymous, said the remnants of the development team would now be unable to produce a sequel without re-staffing if the game proved successful.

The main worry now seems to be that if Lucasarts does need to re-staff to complete current projects or take on new ones then it may have to re-staff with new developers or out-source to external studios, which may affect the direction and feel of the game.

Does The Force Unleashed still have you interested, or were you turned off by Lucasarts long ago? Let us know what you think in the forums.