The season of changes continues at LucasArts amidst stories of layoffs within the company. As a leading publisher and developer of interactive entertainment software, LucasArts is probably most famous for its Star Wars and Indiana Jones series.

Following Jim Ward's resignation in February, former Electronic Arts LA C.O.O. Darrell Rodriguez became President of LucasArts, the interactive game entertainment division of Lucasfilm Ltd., in April of this year. In continuation of this period of change there are currently reports of layoffs taking place at the LucasArts San Francisco studio. Rumors have it that between and 50 and 100 employees are being laid off. In addition, a few days after the release of LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, the departure of Peter Hirschmann, LucasArt's VP of Product Development is reported.

Talk of redundancies inspires tales of further possible changes within the company. Rumors suggest that cuts in certain positions may be part of a whole reorganization philosophy within the development division of LucasArts. It also seems to be a possibility that the layoffs may lead to the outsourcing of work rather than keeping employees on payroll. A possible connection with Electronic Arts is also rumored, taking into consideration the working history of the current company president.

There is however good news for Star Wars enthusiasts who are eagerly waiting for the release of The Force Unleashed that is scheduled for September 2008. At the time of writing it appears that the game maker is remaining on track with the new title. In addition, work is continuing on Fracture which is slated for release in October of this year.

Although work continues, it appears that there may be some changes in the future location of the force that is within LucasArts or outsourced somewhere overseas...