LucasArts: Were sticking with Activision

LucasArts has revealed that it has no plans to open a European distribution office – because Activision is doing such a stellar job as its third-party publishing partner.

The two companies renewed their pan-European, Southeast Asia and Australian publishing and distribution agreement last week.

And LucasArts has now told MCV that it will not open its own European office, as Activision already offers the highest quality” of service.

VP of global publishing at LucasArts Mary Bihr said: We have had a long standing relationship with Activision in which our brands have been well represented in the international markets. There are efficiencies in working with a strong distribution partner, particularly when launching a selective portfolio of products every year.

We have deliberately adopted a strategy of fewer titles, but each title will be well positioned, well supported, of the highest quality, and brought to market by a distribution partner with in-market expertise and a range of products that are complementary to our own. We have no plans in the near future to open our own distribution offices overseas.”

Bihr added that Activision beat out other companies looking for an allegiance” with LucasArts, and took the opportunity to reiterate the firm’s commitment to new IP.

She added: LucasArts is certainly committed to new IP, but the market conditions have to be right. For the near term, we are focusing on strategic initiatives that bring both Star Wars and Indiana Jones to broader audience segments.

"Our recent successes have been with these franchises, but our historical successes over a much longer time period have included original franchises.”

The first game set for release from LucasArts this year is upcoming Indiana Jones title Staff of Kings, and the firm has indicated that there’s much more to come.

There will be more announcements throughout the year, which we cannot talk about at this stage,” said Activision’s general manager of LucasArts International, Menno Van Der Bil.

However, we can say that all of us at Activision are thrilled about the fantastic titles that LucasArts has in the pipeline.”