I'm hoping this is slowdown from the fact that they had to hire a boatload of people to get Epic Mickey out for the end of the year...

From what I've read, that's exactly what it sounds like.

Didn't they almost double staff to make sure EM made it out on time?

Its certainly not from lack of sales.  Epic Mickey sold a ton apparently.

Sad to see people lose their jobs, but like others said it is common for companies to hire temporary employees for a big project. It's like when retailers hire extra employees for the holidays and let them go after.

I'm inclined to agree with all of you. I think this is more a reflection of how they had to hire a bunch of people to finish it than the studio crumbling. The game got mixed reviews, but it sold really well.

Yeah, they never mention whether or not these were temporary or permanent employees.  Big difference there.  Temps are hired to be fired, usually.

Also, Disney Interactive didn't have a great 2010 year. I guess they need to cut overhead or something to appease the mother corp.

Hopefully, that doesn't mean cuts to Black Rock Studios, who did a phenomenal job with Split/Second that got destroyed due to really bad marketing planning, putting it out in the Blur and ModNationRacers window.

As for Junction Point, I'm kind of surprised given the success of Epic Mickey that the employees currently laid-off weren't funneled into new projects, especially on Wii.

No new projects to shuffle them to, probably.

As for Black Rock Studios, I share the sentiment. Split/Second did manage to get fifth (I think) in the UK sales charts so sales couldn't have been too poor.

(Looks at VGChartz)

0.81 million worldwide. Ehh, that's not too shabby right?

http://www.vg247.com/2011/01/25/disney-restructures-into-digital-only-publisher/

If Black Rock guys are getting canned and they were key guys involved in Split/Second Nintendo should pick those guys up.  Split/Second is the most enjoyable racer I've played in YEARS.  Not only is it a great game but it's a CREATIVE game.  It's got that, you know, innovation stuff that every publisher talks a lot about but rarely delivers on.

Hell even if they've still got jobs, hire them away.  They're wasted on digital-only games.  Split/Second is your standard racing game with a twist.  And isn't "____ With a Twist" a good way to describe a lot of Nintendo's games?  They're not the sort of company that will release a straight Ridge Racer clone but they will take something conventional and do something new with it.  That's how you describe Split/Second.