LucasArts developing The Force Unleashed 2 internally, hiring for 'other unannounced products'

It didn't take a Jedi Master to conclude that Star Wars: The Force Unleashed would be getting a sequel -- after all, it met with tremendous success, ranking as the fastest-selling Star Wars video game of all time and moving more than six million copies to date. Still, LucasArts laid off a majority of the team that developed it before the game even hit shelves, so many that our source at the time told Joystiq that the remaining group would be insufficient to produce a sequel should one be ordered.

So, now that The Force Unleashed 2 is officially happening, we naturally began to wonder: who's making the game? When asked for comment on the topic, LucasArts president Darrell Rodriguez told Joystiq, "Our internal team here in San Francisco will be focused on the game in addition to other development partners. The San Francisco team is made up of TFU veterans who are all bringing their hard earned muscle memory to the development process." Rodriguez didn't elaborate on who these "development partners" are, but it's clear that a core team at the company's Northern California HQ is only part of the development effort.

Rodriguez did not remark on whether any new staff is being hired to work on the title internally, but did reveal to us that LucasArts is "also currently hiring for some other unannounced products that we are internally developing as well." We're just going to assume that none of the staff who received pink slips last summer will be sending in resumes.