[jp-30]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

I think that when LEC began outsourcing their SW licensed games the quality went up. I thoroughly enjoyed, KOTOR, KOTOR II, and Jedi Knight II. I still need to get Jedi Academy (it's annoying that it's still too pricey even though it's old).

Outsourcing is nothing new for LucasArts though. Totally Games was used to make the X-Wing series. Factor 5 made the Rogue Squadron series.

Originally Posted by Outasync

Some may recall that there was a Mandate at Lucasarts in the 80's and early 90's that they divide up their development. Where about 30-40% of games were based on existing IP (Star Wars, Indiana Jones) and the rest was to be original IP. They stuck to this until the late 90's

Actually, the first LucasArts Star Wars titles were in 1993 (X-Wing / Rebel Assault). Granted there were Indiana Jones games since Last Crusade in 1989 (see also the mojo link I provide at the bottom of this post)

Originally Posted by Jake

what is most likely is that the games division will just get dissolved and go away, resulting in Lucasfilm not making original games, and EA producing games with the Star Wars license by way of a big fat pricey exclusive rights license.

I really can't see that happening at all. However it is interesting to note that pre 1993, LucasArts were forbidden from using the Star Wars IP. The reasons behind that can be researched from this starting point on Mojo.

Originally Posted by That Mojo News Item

The second constraint was that although we had a fairly high level of creative freedom, we were absolutely forbidden from doing anything that made use of the company's film properties, especially Star Wars. That was viewed as just like spending money, since these properties were, in effect, money in the bank. If somebody else wanted to make a Star Wars game, they had to pay a hefty license fee, and so we made money no matter how well or how poorly their game did, whereas if we made such a game ourselves we would be taking all the risk if it bombed (and never mind that we'd also get 100% of the upside if the game was a hit).