LucasArts President Ward Steps Down

Author: by Staff

LucasArts has confirmed to Gamasutra that former president Jim Ward has resigned "for personal reasons" from the game publisher and developer he has overseen since 2004, and will be leaving the company in the next couple of weeks. A LucasArts representative has told Gamasutra the search for a replacement president is underway, and that in the interim, Lucasfilm Licensing's Howard Roffman will act as stand-in president. Ward first joined Lucasfilm in 1997 as head of its newly formed marketing division. In May 2004, Ward was named President of LucasArts, helping oversee such titles as Star Wars: Battlefront, Knights of the Old Republic II and the publishing of the first Mercenaries title, along with MMO Star Wars: Galaxies. The exec featured in a memorable Hollywood & Games Summit session from last year, discussing film-game convergence with EA's Neil Young, and stressing LucasArts multi-disciplinary approach to its properties: "We have revenue coming from the movie, from the game, from VFX, from sound – so all of that matters to us." It's unclear whether Ward will be imminently making an announcement about a new position within the game industry, or if he is transitioning in another direction.