Star Wars 1313 "continues production", says LucasArts

[Blacksite]

Development on LucasArts’ Star Wars 1313 has been “frozen or put on hold” since Disney acquired the studio’s parent company Lucas in November, according to a Kotaku report citing “unrelated sources familiar with game development at LucasArts.”

But according to LucasArts, the company “has been working diligently to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities that the new Star Wars movies present,” and “Star Wars 1313 continues production.”

According to the tipsters, Star Wars 1313 first began production in 2009 as game called Underworld, which would tie-in to a planned live-action Star Wars TV show. The game was to be set in the underworld, which is where the 1313 from the game’s current title hails. It was originally set to be an open-world RPG with dark story elements similar to BioWare’s Knights of the Old Republic, and deliver episodic character updates through download content. But in 2010, the game was scaled back due to financial concerns, and the TV show was put on hold.

In 2011, said the site’s sources, the game developer was to reinvent itself under president Paul Meegan, who wanted to make Star Wars-branded games in popular genres like the shooter and social game. From there, a FarmVille-esque game surfaced, and a first-person shooter code-named Trigger. At that time, what was known as Underworld bbecame a new game called Hive, which was given platforming elements similar to the Uncharted series.

A LucasArt representative declined comment on these claims.

Development on Hive began to pick up in 2011 and 2012, sources said, and Star Wars creator George Lucas “loved” it. The game was to answer storylines such as, “Who is Boba Fett?”, “Why was Han working for Jabba?”, and “Who were the Bothan spies?” These were George Lucas’ requests, so they would see fit, but the game itself had no concrete story. When it was shown at E3 2012, the story was apparently still in development.

With the Disney purchase of Lucas, concluded sources, the company’s gaming division has been “reoriented,” with the focus being on the new trilogy and JJ Abrams-directed Star Wars: Episode VII—not anything unrelated.

But if LucasArts is to be believed, the game is still in production.

And with that, we await our next glimpse.

via Gematsu.

Keep in mind that no platforms have been announced, even though the game was said to be running on Unreal Engine 3. LucasArts is also not among the revised list of developers supporting the PS4 so Star Wars 1313 is likely current-gen.

[Yuuichi]

Interesting, I did fig this a next gen but looks like itll be current.

[ps3freak18]

I can't wait for this game. I haven't been this hyped for a star wars game since KOTOR. Still holding on hope for the third installment. Not an MMO! This game was beautiful. The best looking game at E3 last year imo. I was thinking this was going to be next gen since we haven't heard much out of it but I wouldn't be shocked if it was current gen.

[TDbank24]

That's good to know. Star Wars 1313 looks bad ass.

[Updator]

Quite an interesting read. I'll be interested to see whether it is current or next gen.

[YoungMullah88]

via Gematsu.

Keep in mind that no platforms have been announced, even though the game was said to be running on Unreal Engine 3. LucasArts is also not among the revised list of developers supporting the PS4 so Star Wars 1313 is likely current-gen.

Lucas art based in Europe or America?

Sent from my Note II

[DarkVincent07]

Be next gen plzzzzz. Too many PS360 games coming out as it is... bring on the next wave of games!