LucasArts President Resigns News
Chris Leyton
10/10/2003
Simon Jeffery announces his shock departure from the US developer...
LucasArts President, Simon Jeffery, today shocked everyone in the videogame industry with the announcement of his immediate resignation from the US developer.
It's believed Jeffery has left the company to return back to England with his family, however no official reason for his exit was given. Many have however speculated that his resignation is tied to the stale state of LucasArts and its inability to move away from the Star Wars franchise.
Despite creating some of the most original games in its former glory days the death of the Point 'n' Click genre and a number of major departures led to the downfall of LucasArts, who weakened the Star Wars franchise with a string of mediocre cash-ins that they became too dependant upon...
E3'02 saw the announcement of a selection of original titles, however none of these have really had any success at the market with 'Full Throttle 2: Hell on Wheels' canned and 'RTX: Redrock' performing below expectations. The Star Wars franchise has thankfully been improved however with the release of 'Star Wars: Galaxies' which soon became the fastest-selling MMORPG and the critically acclaimed Xbox RPG 'Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic'.
LucasArts has confirmed that Mike Nelson, Vice-President of Finance and Administration, will step in as acting President until a suitable replacement is found.