The International House of Mojo

It appears that rumors of LucasArts' death ("death" here having the meaning of an absence of game development) may have been somewhat exaggerated. Despite the most recent reports indicating that "all other partially-completed internal projects will be outsourced," it seems that at least the upcoming Indiana Jones game will remain an in-house production. From Joystiq:

The "next-gen" console adventures of Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr. will continue ... and not just in LEGO form. LucasArts has confirmed to Joystiq that the Indiana Jones title first revealed in 2006 is still in development internally at the company's San Francisco offices. Despite yesterday's staff downsizing, there are "no plans to outsource its development to an external studio."

An update on the previously mentioned Shacknews piece confirms this. So, good news for Indiana Jones at least. But what about after that?

Well, we're also of course aware of LucasArts' claim that "We are definitely committed to the internal studio," though the more cynical of us may be more swayed by the thoughts shared by "MonkeyCoder," who in the comments section of the aforementioned Shacknews article says he's a LucasArts programmer and that the company is not in any way abandoning internal development.

So, what to think? Certainly things don't look as resolutely grim on the LucasArts' internal production front as they perhaps seemed based on the last few reports. Only time will tell, of course, but at least for now we can confirm that the Indiana Jones game (titled Staff of Kings by all accounts besides official announcement) is still in active production and in the hands of LucasArts developers, for better or for worse.

Thanks to JP for the heads up regarding the "MonkeyCoder" stuff.