LucasFilm Games is the new retro moniker for upcoming titles from the George Lucas universe

LucasFilm Games/LucasArts is one of the most beloved studios in PC gaming history, with classics like The Secret of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango and Day of The Tentacle just some of the quirky and unique puzzle adventures conjured by George Lucas’ stable back in the late 80s and 90s. Seriously, If you haven’t played at least one of these titles you’re clearly a bad person. For shame!

Fast-forward about 3 decades and Disney, owners of all Lucas’ media properties not just the Star Wars franchise, have decided to don the retro-specs and label all their upcoming games as from LucasFilm Games.

Wait a minute, LucasFilm Games? Why not LucasArts??

Indeed! Although most are probably more familiar with the latter, the studio was called LucasFilm Games from its founding in 1982 until 1990 when it became LucasArts.

But whatever your preference, it is nice to see the Lucas name, once a symbol of colourful creativity and high-quality craftsmanship (lol, remember that?) adorning the splash screens of upcoming titles in the Lucas universe once more.

To celebrate, Disney have released a trailer of Star Wars games proudly adorning the LucasFilm Games title:

Not shown in the above ‘sizzle’ is the just announced Star Wars title from Ubisoft, being developed by Massive Entertainment, the studio behind The Division games. Nothing is known about it, other than the brilliant news that this will be the first major Star Wars title in some time not developed by EA. Thank the maker!

Bethesda releases Indiana Jones teaser trailer to continue the LucasFilms fun

To add some much needed variety to the slate of slightly brain-dead EA Star Wars games it’s not just Ubisoft, but Bethesda, who are getting in on the act. And this one is an Indiana Jones title.

The studio behind it, MachineGames, have promised the game will follow a whole new adventure for Indy, set at the height of the career of the famed adventurer. So, no crusty Harrison Ford cameos we can presume.

Perhaps worryingly, the infamously unhinged head of Bethesda Softworks Todd Howard is overseeing the project himself – we know, that’s not exactly reassuring.

Whether the game will be an exclusive Xbox release, given that Bethesda is of course now owned by Microsoft, is unclear at this time. If we were to guess? We’d say timed exclusive.

Here’s the (not so) revealing teaser trailer for Indy’s new adventure:

What about new titles from this new Lucas-themed studio??

Sadly, this is not a new studio, but a studio in name only, as the LucasFilm Games logo will appear on games part of the franchises associated, nothing more than that.

If we were Disney, we would of course go the whole hog and actually create a quirky and off-beat studio tasked with doing what LucasArts was so famed for, making unique and highly creative titles. It may not be the modern Disney way, as we all know how much the house of mouse loves to milk their acquired franchises dry of every drop of value, often to their detriment.

But, looking back to the days of the company’s genius founder Walt, he was a master of understanding opportunities to create new stories and experiences. Take the Pirates of the Caribbean theme park ride, an original concept so fun and characterful it created it’s own spin off film franchise.

If Disney could see the value in that approach, a Lucas named studio would be the perfect place to experiment with it in the gaming space, and I’m sure we’d all be richer for it.

What do you think of the new LucasFilm Games label? Are Disney missing a trick not creating a proper studio out of it? Tell us in the comments below.