Okay, with LucasArts now shut down...

[lattsam]

...what does this mean for Sam and Max Hit the Road and Sam and Max: Freelance Police?

[Scarlet Spider]

Well, nothing since it's Steve Purcell who owns the franchise.

[LuigiHann]

Freelance Police was dead before

Now it's ever-so-slightly deader

[ryannumber1gamer]

Same with Monkey Island & other Lucasarts games. Hope that if we are extremely extremely lucky that they decided to sell the rights off to other game developers who are actually interested in making games for the series. If we were extremely lucky maybe TTG could get Monkey Island & Hit the Road but Freelance Police has a way lower chance IMO. It looks like Freelance Police's chances of being completed are as low as ever and Hit the Road's chances is low as well. :/

[Harald B]

In recent years a lot depended on who was in charge at LucasArts. Disney folding the IPs into their own portfolio is one more roll of the dice. Disney might potentially be more amenable to licensing out the old adventure game properties at a workable price than LA has been lately. Or not. Time will tell I suppose.

[RAnthonyMahan]

Honestly? Disney shutting down LucasArts won't change too much. For the past few years LucasArts has pretty much existed solely to hand the Star Wars license to other developers, so Disney cut out the middleman and decided to do that directly.

As for all the other IPs, they'll probably get the same treatment LucasArts was giving them beforehand (i.e.: none at all). When Disney bought Lucasfilm, they cared about Star Wars, and to a lesser extent Indiana Jones. The many other IPs they acquired in the process were just extra baggage. Part of me is hoping they'll sell off the IPs they don't plan to use, but I wouldn't count on it.

[Teeth]

Lattsam, Season One is more or less an episodic Freelance Police. There is no way the game is ever going to be made, nor is there any need for it. How many years have you been agonising over this? Let it go and enjoy your life.

[lattsam]

Originally Posted by Teeth

Lattsam, Season One is more or less an episodic Freelance Police. There is no way the game is ever going to be made, nor is there any need for it. How many years have you been agonising over this? Let it go and enjoy your life.

Must... not... get... discouraged!

[Irishmile]

Originally Posted by RAnthonyMahan

Honestly? Disney shutting down LucasArts won't change too much. For the past few years LucasArts has pretty much existed solely to hand the Star Wars license to other developers, so Disney cut out the middleman and decided to do that directly.

As for all the other IPs, they'll probably get the same treatment LucasArts was giving them beforehand (i.e.: none at all). When Disney bought Lucasfilm, they cared about Star Wars, and to a lesser extent Indiana Jones. The many other IPs they acquired in the process were just extra baggage. Part of me is hoping they'll sell off the IPs they don't plan to use, but I wouldn't count on it.

My fear that they will cannibalize/adapt Monkey Island into future Pirates of the Caribbean movies is really strong.. If Jack all of a sudden starts using rubber chickens with a pulley in the middle I will cry... real tears.

I hope they will allow someone to license Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Maniac Mansion, Full Throttle and others ideally to the people who created them.. but Ron Gilbert has already expressed no interest in having to pay to work on his own creation... But hopefully SOMEONE who knows what they are doing will make more Monkey Island.

[Falanca]

Originally Posted by lattsam

Must... not... get... discouraged!

I was in highschool when I first saw your threads about old VAs, Freelance Police and whathaveya...

[seson3churious]

Originally Posted by Falanca

I was in highschool when I first saw your threads about old VAs, Freelance Police and whathaveya...

I was in elementary

[LikaLaruku]

Disney will let 3ed party developers make games of their new acquisitions.

Telltale should have snagged the rights to Grim Fandango, Maniac Mansion, & Day of the Tentacle while they had the chance...Now they'll have to pay Disney an outrageous licensing fee if they ever want to use them.

I'm personally hoping that their acquisitions of Marvel & LucasArts come back to bite them in the ### hard someday.

Originally Posted by Irishmile

My fear that they will cannibalize/adapt Monkey Island into future Pirates of the Caribbean movies is really strong.. If Jack all of a sudden starts using rubber chickens with a pulley in the middle I will cry... real tears.

I hope they will allow someone to license Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Maniac Mansion, Full Throttle and others ideally to the people who created them.. but Ron Gilbert has already expressed no interest in having to pay to work on his own creation... But hopefully SOMEONE who knows what they are doing will make more Monkey Island.

A horribly valid fear. Since Pirates of the Caribbean was concocted from a dead Monkey Island Movie script, the two have far too much in common, & the general public is unfortunately far more aware of the knockoff than the real thing, the ignorant masses will initially react to Monkey Island as the imitation.

The only good I can see is a potential Grim Fandango/Nightmare Before Christmas crossover, characters from NBC appearing in a GF game, Tim Burton returning to what his fans actually liked him for by making a claymation movie of GF, & LucasArts characters appearing in future Kingdom Hearts games.

[Serec]

Am I really the only one who doesn't like the idea of a Grim Fandango sequel?

The story is done, perfectly executed, no loose ends.
It does not warrant a sequel, there are plenty of franchises out there which desperately need sequels, or on the flip side, franchises that have way too many unneeded sequels.

Grim was perfect, let it rest.

[WinterSnowblind]

I can't say that I'm as torn up about LucasArts as some people seem to be. Sure, they did some great work in the past, but when was the last time they did anything remotely worthwhile? Their closure just makes it more likely that franchises like Monkey Island and Star Wars can be licensed out to developers who actually give a damn about them, instead of them being ignored/treated like cash cows.

And if they have no plans on doing anything with Monkely Island or Grim Fandango and just intend to let them die.. then that's not any different from the situation we had with LucasArts anyway.