Disney will close Junction Point, the Austin, Texas, game development studio responsible for the Epic Mickey series, it said on Tuesday.
“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,” a Disney spokesperson said in an emailed 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.”
A Disney representative confirmed to Wired that vice president and studio head Warren Spector will not be staying on with Disney following the studio closure. Spector and Art Min founded the studio in 2004 after the closure of Ion Storm, where he created the Deus Ex series. Disney acquired Junction Point in 2007, before it had released any titles.
Sales of last year’s Epic Mickey 2 may be partially to blame. Although sales data has not been made public, the Los Angeles Times reported that the multi-platform action game only sold a total of 270,000 copies in 2012. Disney recently announced a major new game series called Infinity, developed by another in-house unit, Avalanche Studios.
Today’s news comes as a surprise considering that Spector, a lifelong Disney fan with an innate passion for its history, had seemed a perfect fit for the company.
Spector is currently scheduled to speak at the upcoming DICE Summit on Feb. 7, with a session titled “Hey, You kids! Get Outta My Yard! or The Graying of Gaming.”
Disney Shuts Down <cite>Epic Mickey</cite> Studio, Warren Spector Out
This article
Disney Shuts Down <cite>Epic Mickey</cite> Studio, Warren Spector Out
can be opened in url
http://newsfindout.blogspot.com/2013/01/disney-shuts-down-mickey-studio-warren.html
Disney Shuts Down <cite>Epic Mickey</cite> Studio, Warren Spector Out
