LucasArts president, Jim Ward, quits

jim ward In a surprising announcement by LucasArts, the game company has announced that Jim Ward, president of LucasArts, has stepped down and resigned from his post for "personal reasons." He will be departing the company within a few weeks.

Ward began his career in the Lucas organization in 1997 as head of the marketing division. In 2004 Ward was named president of LucasArts, the gaming arm of the George Lucas media empire. Ward was known within the industry as a hard-hitting manager and was generally seen as the driving force behind turning around the ailing game division’s problems concerning game content and quality control.

In a prepared statement released by Ward, he said:

"I am so proud of all people and the work we’ve done together at LucasArts over the last four years," he wrote. "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."

Margaret Grohne, PR director at LucasArts said, "We are starting a search for a new president and in the transition Howard Roffman, president of Lucas Licensing, will be stepping in. He has been with the company for over 25 years and very intimately connected with the games business. We are sorry to see him go. He’s been with the Lucas film organization for over 10 years and he has definitely contributed quite a bit to our organization."

Ward’s shoes will be a hard one to fill as he spearheaded the dramatic comeback of LucasArts from a game company that was seen as a joke among the industy to a thriving and healthy organization producing solid titles. LucasArts has stated that Ward’s departure will have no effect upon upcoming titles that will be released.

No doubt, his presence will be definitely missed at LucasArts and the search for his replacement will result in a mad rush to fill the void left by his leadership and high expectations to produce quality games.

[via kotaku]

SHARE THIS POST

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Myspace
  • Google Buzz
  • Reddit
  • Stumnleupon
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • Technorati
Author: GamerNode Staff View all posts by

Leave A Response

You must be logged in to post a comment.