Mi dispiace molto per loro e spero che troveranno lavoro in altre parti, ma devo anche dire che questa notizia non mi sorprende molto.Epic Mickey developer Junction Point Studio closed its doors, a Disney representative confirmed to Polygon today. The Disney-owned Austin, Tex.-based studio employed about 160 people in early 2012.
"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 representative for the company told Polygon. "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."
In an interview with Polygon last year, Spector said he saw a future in connectivity between smartphones and traditional gaming platforms.
"I make the games I want to make," he said. "I'm going to continue to do that. Anybody who doesn't work for Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo, who isn't thinking about 'How do I get a billion people with an Android, iOS or Microsoft phone in their pocket? How do they interact with my hardware?' If they're not thinking about that, they're not thinking hard enough."
Junction Point's most recent title, Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, was released in November. According to a report from the LA Times citing the NPD Group, sales of Epic Mickey 2 lagged far behind its predecessor during a similar holiday period.
Junction Point Studio was founded by Warren Spector and Art Min in 2004. The developer was acquired by Disney Interactive in 2007. Junction Point's debut effort, Epic Mickey, was released on the Wii in 2010. A sequel was released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PC, and Nintendo 3DS last year.
Disney Interactive shuttered two of its game development studios in 2011: Propaganda Games (Turok, Tron: Evolution) and Black Rock Studio (Pure, Split Second). The division has seen two restructurings over the past two years, resulting in the elimination of an estimated 250 jobs.
Il budget per il sequel era enorme ed è floppato di brutto (~300k copie vendute su tutte le piattaforme mentre il primo ha fatto 2 milioni solo su Wii). Epic Mickey aveva un gran potenziale come concetto, ma l'esecuzione era piuttosto deludente. Molta gente sarà rimasta a bocca amara dopo aver comprato il primo e quindi è rimasta alla larga del secondo.
