
LucasArts has just confirmed to Kotaku that Jim Ward, longtime Lucas worker bee and current president of LucasArts, has resigned from the company "for personal reasons" and will be leaving LucasArts in a couple of weeks.
Ward, who began his career in advertising, started work at LucasFilm in 1997 as the head of their marketing division. In 2004 Ward was named president of LucasArts.
No word yet on the reasoning behind his seemingly sudden departure or where he will land, but we'll keep you up to date here.
Update: We've spoken with LucasArts about Ward's notice and gotten a comment from Ward.











Comments
Ruh-Roooh
Attention new LucasArts president: You can make more than Star Wars games. Furthermore, a sequel to Gladius would be a nice place to start.
So can we get adventure games again? Please? Pretty please?
Once upon a time, Lucasarts was synonymous with innovative, quality gameplay. Now it's just Star Wars-licensed crapola. Yah, it sells games, but you should funnel some of the $tar War$ money into other ventures.
That was out of the left field...
And why can't we get a decent X-Wing/Tie Fighter successor???? Galaxies ain't it.
Well, good luck to him, I guess.
He always seemed like a cool enough guy. Hope everything goes well for the chap
Maybe they'll put a creative guy(gal?) at the helm, one with a background in actual game design.
*Sigh* Sweet dreams.
Where is my Star Wars Empire at War patch, LucasArts?
Jorb opening! I know its tough working for Lucas...he only reward the actors. The employees get so much less.
Ok. So where is my response to the applications I filled out at the Presidio???
Wow.
Ward, if you read this, I hope whatever you left LA for was worth it. I hope you find happiness in whatever you pursue.
Now, the question is .. what was the reason he left? :(
Isn't this the guy everyone at Lucas Arts despised because he was a prick? I think he was the one famous for yelling and throwing water bottles in meetings, but I could be thinking of somebody else.
maybe we can get some Adventure games coming from Lucas Arts now.
Is he the guy that killed the Lucas Arts I loved and cherished in my childhood? Because if so, then fuck'm. That's what you get for putting a suit at the top.
Wait... my bad. Became president in 2004, well after LA's downward spiral. I wish him the best of luck, then. Now, who's the douchebag that was actually responsible, then? Heads should roll.
More Grim Fandango & Full Throttle please!
Well I think I think he was at least responsible for righting the ship at Lucasarts which was sinking so it's not a good thing to seem him go.
Lucasarts even tried it's hand at some new IP's rather then going after the same old franchises but even then they tried to exercise some quality control compared to past management.
Swapmeet - Lucasarts will never make those kinds of games it is most known for [space sims/adventures] again, there are no internal development studios at Lucasarts any more it is a publisher and IP licensee. The devs responsible for those old games have either left the industry or moved on to other companies.
Not to mention there is little profit in the space sim genre these days. Still I would kill for a Tie Figther re-make on Xbox 360 with multi-player support, I can dream at least.
If LucasArts is firing people, they should consider giving the boot to George Lucas. I hear that guy's trouble.
What do you mean no Maniac Mansion 3? I QUIT!!!!!
I bet thats what happened.
Resignation announcement to be followed by news concerning the delay of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. What? It will happen, just wait. Everyone else is doing it.
Can we get new adventure games now?
@ex_ea_slave: Ha, i had an instructor/prof like that a about a year ago. Except he would throw chairs as everyone was entering the room..
And he would power-sip from a water bottle we were sure was actually filled with Vodka. Kinda like taking shots..
And so soon before unleashed came out .
Forgive me for not caring that someone I've never heard of has quit their job.
@JerrD74: What school was this?
@SwapMeet:
Yeah I've been wondering why they stopped making those games. Lately I've been hankering for a good space sim. I'm wondering what would it be like if LucasArts made a space sim where you play a smuggler in the StarWars universe? Where you had to transport goods as well as smuggle stuff for people. Would be interesting. :)
Wasn't this the same asshole who said games should not miss release dates and pushed to just release things on time instead of finished?
It was the plans for 'Young Indiana Jones meets Young Boba Fett MMO' that made him decide, I'd bet...
Ward is a good man
Good, maybe someone with the balls to publish adventure games will take control now.
I lost my interest of LA games since 2004 now I know why. I want Outlaws, FullThrottle(still have FT:HoW trailer), more X-wing/Tie Fighter games and more FPS like DF2:JK.
@Leathersoup:
A Smuggler sim may be good for a single player game, but I was thinking a good follow-up to Alliance. Alliance's netcode was buggy as hell. Imagine 32-64 players, mix of fighters and capital ships all going at it. Capital Ships would be controlled by 1-3 players, fighters by single players. X-Wing and Tie Figher had excellent game balance with good counters. Bombers take out cap ships, fighters take out bombers, interceptors take out fighters. And don't even try making a good space sim out of Episodes I-III, it ain't going to happen.
Lucasarts pretty much abandoned the PC market to focus more on mainstream consoles, but with XBox Live, we may have another multiplayer Star Wars space sim in the future (if they had any sense).
LucasArts games quit being fun somewhere around 1998.
@evslin:
Grim Fandango was probably Lucasarts' last masterpiece.
Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, Maniac Mansion??? give me a break
Monkey Island 5 all the way
Damn is Force Unleashed gonna be THAT big of a bomb?
@Collision891:
The great thing about Lucasarts at their peak in the 90's was innovation. Sure, they had sequels, but they also released great original IP's regularly. They never relied too much on an existing franchise (i.e. post-2000 Star Wars Lucasarts, EA - Madden, Sims).
Good.
The start of his tenure coincided with the demise of game quality coming out of Lucas Arts.
just sayin'...
Wardgate?
@Cell9song: We have yet to see Force Unleashed. While I'm not holding my breath, the previews look pretty freaking incredible.
HIRE RON GILBERT!
@Cutedge: Yep, that's him. He then proceeded to release the next-generation Indy game on time and on budget... er... wait, no he didn't. This is also the guy who said LucasArts shouldn't do adventure games at least until 2015, because releasing sequels to masterpieces like Monkey Island or Grim Fandango wouldn't be original. Whereas, releasing Star Wars sequels apparently is original...
@Collision891: If it wasnt for Maniac Mansion, there would be no monkey island....I've been waiting for them to make a new one for a very long time, anyone else? Maniac Mansion is my favorite game of all time so PLEASE MAKE THIS GAME FOR TEH Wii!!!
@Haggis: Too true.
Yes Grim Fandango,Full Throttle, and Monkey Island sequels please.
He should have left after the Battlefront 2 PC fiasco. I even mailed the game to him with a letter explaining my severe disappointment in their lack of quality and testing. I never heard back.
Lucasarts is garbage.
To Do:
Full Throttle sequel
The Dig sequel
Indiana Jones sequel
Grim Fandango sequel
Is this the guy to blame for the annihilation of SWG?
Actually, I'm very glad he left. I haven't bought a Lucasarts game in over 10 years... and I used to buy MANY (I probably have about 30 of their games). Probably due to him is why Lucasarts lost the uniqueness they brought to the industry. None of they guys who made Lucasarts what it is (or was) are even with the company anymore.. Schaffer, Holland, ect... probably due of that asshat, good riddance.
Hope Howard Roffman will comes back to adventure games... like the sweet old time... :-<
About time, LucasArts started going downhill in the creativity department and stopped creating true classics since he became their marketing tzar in the 90's.
Good ridance
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