Jim Ward leaves Lucasarts

On Friday (February 1, 2008) it was made official that Jim Ward, the president of Lucasarts, would be leaving the company over what he claimed were “personal reasons.” Margaret Grohne, PR director of Lucasarts, told Kotaku that he never alluded to exactly what he meant by that.

Instead, he left a congratulatory statement with the site about the work Lucasarts did during his tenure.

I am so proud of all people and the work we’ve done together at LucasArts over the last four years. It’s been an incredible experience. Together we’ve rebooted the company and set LucasArts on a path to even greater success. This is a fantastic team and they are positioned for their best year ever.

Grohne further mentioned that Ward’s departure won’t effect the release or development for any upcoming Lucasarts titles, so those waiting for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed need not fret. However, he will not be holding a conference at this year’s D.I.C.E. summit which is titled “Breaking the Broken Model.”

Ward had been with Lucasarts for nearly 11 years, starting his time with the company in 1997 as the head of its marketing department. He became president in 2004, succeeding Simon Jeffrey, who is now in charge of Sega of America.

While few will compare Ward’s time as president with Lucasarts’ glory days during the ’90s, he should at least be remembered for not screwing things up any further than they already were – his predecessor did a fine job of that (and seems to be more than happy to repeat the process at Sega).

No mention of a successor has been made at this time. Here’s to hoping that it may be somebody who has lived through the company’s happier times. Perhaps it could even be someone who worked in one of its in-house development teams. You know, one of those people who didn’t leave to go work at Totally Games or Double Fine or Telltale or Retro Studios or…

Read [Kotaku] Also Read [1UP] Also Read [Joystiq]