Disney officially closes Epic Mickey developer
After last night's speculation, Disney has confirmed today that it has closed Austin-based developer Junction Point Studios, the brainchild of Warren Spector and creator of the iconic Epic Mickey series.
Update: Adds report of Spector leaving Disney.
After last night's speculation, Disney has confirmed today that it has closed Austin-based developer Junction Point Studios, the brainchild of Warren Spector and creator of the Epic Mickey series.
"It was with much sadness that we informed our teams today of changes to our Games organization, which include the closure of Junction Point Studios," Disney's told various news sites in a statement. "These changes are part of our ongoing effort to address the fast-evolving gaming platforms and marketplace and to align resources against our key priorities. We're extremely grateful to Warren Spector and the Junction Point team for their creative contributions to Disney with Disney Epic Mickey and Disney Epic Mickey 2."
Disney offered no other details. We have reached out to Spector for comment, but Polygon has learned that the ex-studio head has left Disney and is looking for a new opportunity. His LinkedIn profile lists him as unemployed and has him asking "Wondering what comes next?... Want to talk?"
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replyJohn Keefer posted a new article, Disney officially closes Epic Mickey developer.
After last night's speculation, Disney has confirmed today that it has closed Austin-based developer Junction Point Studios, the brainchild of Warren Spector and creator of the iconic Epic Mickey series.-
Disney Interactive's "priorities" right now are mobile and social games utilizing Disney IP, and a Skylanders clone using Disney character figurines with NFC chips (this is what Avalanche is working on). It's sad, considering what studios like Black Rock and Propaganda had to go through in the past 3 years.
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Avalanche?! ... the Just Cause guys?? What a waste.
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it isn't even epic =(
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Let me tell you something. This whole series was a big let down.
When I first saw the concept art for Epic Mickey 1 I jizzed all over myself.
When I saw the finished product, I threw up all over the game case and TV.
It was that much of a disparity.
Who were those concept art paintings for? Someone's living room?
I'm glad they shut down that team and Warren Spector for as much as I loved his previous work is simply just out of touch.
Good Luck buddy.-
That concept art leak was just some artist's CV getting published, with a few art pieces from a strange unannounced game. That happens sometimes (and publishers don't like it), but it doesn't mean that art will make it to the final game. If I recall correctly, you're referring to the robot Goofy art that was found in mid-2009.
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Disney seems to kinda grasp the nature of good games. I liked Split/Second for example. But they seem like a company that's too much focused on other shit to ever really build their gaming culture up.
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Well, they did grasp the nature of good games... and then they wanted to stop making "expensive games".
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I would shit my pants if Warren joins Square / Enix Montreal (they did DE:HR, right?) or Bethesda.
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