JAN. 29, 2013 • Despite the recent corporate acquisition of LucasFilm and LucasArts by the Walt Disney Co., Disney Interactive is still paring down its development assets with the shuttering of Warren Spector’s Junction Point Studios in Austin. Spector is best known for the Thief and Deus Ex franchises. Junction Point was acquired by Disney in 2007 and was tasked with developing Disney Epic Mickey. That title was released in November 2010 for the Wii and sold over million units in North America and Europe. Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two was released last November for multiple platforms, yet moved only 529,000 units in the U.S. by the end of 2012, according to the NPD Group. This was less than half of what the original game did in the same time period.
Impact: After two years of major layoffs throughout Disney Interactive it seemed clear that Junction Point might be in trouble. This was a especially true given Disney was vocal about not wanting to be in the high-end console game market. However, with the recent announcement of the high-end console product Disney Infinity, we thought Junction Point might be spared the axe despite Epic Mickey 2’s inability to match the success of its predecessor. Warren Spector has a reputation for quality games, as well as staffing his studios with quality creative people. Those are assets not to be shed lightly. On the other hand, standing out in the console game market requires a high-quality product to win hard-earned consumer dollars. In the case of Epic Mickey, it appears the series may not have been able to meet consumer expectations. The first Epic Mickey received mildly positive reviews but there were complaints about controls that many people felt were not fixed with Epic Mickey 2. Mid-level product quality doesn’t cut it for consumers looking to pay a premium for console games in a world with numerous low cost options. Furthermore, sequels to popular games should show improvement in quality if they want to increase sales. These issues have plagued Disney Interactive over the years in the game space, across multiple platforms. Perhaps Infinity will change that situation, but it is now obvious that this new franchise is an anomaly in the company’s restructuring plans rather than a change of direction. Once again, we wonder what is going to happen to LucasArts in this environment. Stay tuned.
