It's with a heavy heart and RSI-riddled point-and-clicking fingers that we bring you the news of LucasArts' demise. Closed down by its new owners Disney, the much-loved video game developer is laying off all its staff and turning into a licensing entity. In other words, Star Wars: First Assault and Star Wars 1313 are no more.
In this way, the Golden Guy will live on through other game designers picking up their previous creations, which include the Star Wars and Indiana Jones games, as well as Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion and Sam & Max, some of which are already in the safe hands of LucasArts' spiritual successor, TellTale games.
Some of Lucasfilm Games' (as it was originally known) best-loved releases - notably the Monkey Island series - are still available on iPhones, iPads and elsewhere, but for the time being LucasArts' legacy lives on in the minds of its fans and anyone who regularly indulges in a spot of Insult Swordfighting.
Interestingly, there are aspects of perhaps LucasArts' finest game, the undead-themed Mexican Halloween-falvoured puzzle noir Grim Fandango{
The closing down of LucasArts comes after several other **Star Wars-**affliated brands have been shown the door by Disney of late, most notably the critically-acclaimed Clone Wars TV show, which seems to show that The House Of Mouse is keen to cause a disturbance in The Force in the form of a Jedi/Sith drought. So say goodbye to Star Wars Kinect and look forward to looking forward to Episode VII (currently earmarked for a 2015 release).
Additionally, Variety reports that many Industrial Light And Magic staff are also losing their jobs as part of this move. Then again, when you buy a company for $4.05 billion, you're going to need to make a few tough decisions along the way...
Desperate for more point-and-click adventuring? Be sure to play TellTale Games' Walking Dead series to give yourself a pretty jaw-dropping fix. Also, if you have the time, check out Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion co-creator Ron Gilbert's blog post on saying goodbye to The Golden Guy.