MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Ron Gilbert has expressed his sadness at the closure of LucasArts, the studio where he made his name.
Disney made the decision to disband the LucasArts development team yesterday as it looks to instead license out the company’s IP.
Called LucasFilm Games when he joined, Gilbert said that despite not having worked at the studio since 1992,“it was still home” to him.
He began work at the company shortly after being laid off from a company called Human Engineered Software in 1983, where as a Commodore 64 programmer, one of his first tasks was to port Noah Falstein’s game Koronis Rift from the Atari 800.
Many of his most iconic games were made during his time at LucsArts, including titles such as Maniac Mansion and The Secret of Monkey Island.
“It’s hard for me not to be sad,” said Gilbert in a blog post.
d“I haven’t worked there since 1992, but it was still home to me. I grew up there. I learned just about everything I know about designing games there. I became a real programmer there. I made lifelong friends there. Eight of the most memorable and influential years of my life were spent there. I would not be who I am today without Lucasfilm Games.”
Gilbert went on to say he still holds hope of obtaining the rights to the Monkey Island series, but admitted nothing had likely change despite the closure of LucasArts.
“I still have hope that I might get the rights to Monkey Island back someday,” he said.
“LucasArts shutting down doesn’t change anything since Disney bought them back in Oct. Maybe there will be less of an emotional attachment to it for them. Who knows. Not me.”
