LucasArts, Kuju Part Ways Over Traxion

LucasArts has confirmed to Gamasutra that it no longer plans to publish the Kuju Entertainment (Battalion Wars) developed customizable rhythm title Traxion for PSP. "Kuju and LucasArts have mutually agreed to sever their relationship with respect to the development of the Traxion product," commented a LucasArts representative to Gamasutra. When inquired as to the reason behind the decision, the representative simply replied “no comment.” First announced during E3 2006 and originally scheduled for release during the 2006 holiday season, Traxion aimed to combine gaming and music in a rather unique fashion by featuring 20-plus minigames that would take advantage of and change depending on the game's own licensed music, or even custom MP3s stored on the PSP's memory stick. The game, which picked up the award for Technical Excellence from major consumer website IGN at the most recent E3, was also one of three titles that prompted the Brighton, UK based development studio to hire an additional twenty staff members in June 2006, with plans to continue to hire going forward. [UPDATED 06:44am PST] Speaking to Gamasutra, Kuju Brighton studio head Ed Daly offered the following comments: “Kuju can confirm that we have agreed to sever the development relationship with Lucas Arts in respect of the Traxion game shown at E3 last year. For reasons of confidentiality we can make no specific comment about the termination of the relationship; however we can say that Kuju Brighton is committed to continue developing innovative lifestyle and music based games and we hope to be able to make a more specific announcement about the future of games based on our award winning music analysis technology in the near future. Watch this space..."