10 Beloved Video Game Studios That Publishers RUINED

6. LucasArts

This might technically be cheating, given LucasArts acted as both a publisher and a developer (it's equally true that problems within the company seeded their eventual downfall too), but there's no denying the industry landscape is worse off without it.

At its peak, LucasArts was one of the most formidable forces in the gaming industry. Front and centre to its success were its Star Wars titles, which it both developed in-house and published from external studios. Seminal titles like Monkey Island and Grim Fandango came from within the walls of LucasArts, and though the company was afflicted with a myriad of issues during its twilight, they were still creating genuinely worthwhile ideas, with Star Wars: 1313 its final E3 demo.

For all the good that Disney have done unto Star Wars since their acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012, there is no arguing with how poor their handling of the Star Wars license has been when it comes to video games. They effectively gutted LucasArts to shop the Star Wars license to EA, who are yet to produce a single-player Star Wars experience in the six years since they acquired the license.

It was such a needless exercise, and though there's reason to be optimistic regarding Jedi: Fallen Order, referring to LucasArts in the past-tense doesn't get any easier.

[EP]