Not all is well at the Disney-owned Junction Point.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/24932
Junction Point, Warren Spector's studio owned by Disney, are experiencing lay-offs. The team was responsible for the development of Disney Epic Mickey, released in November last year.
Epic Mickey was the first game the company developed for Disney following their acquisition in 2007. The company was formed by Spector and several other former Ion Storm employees.
Reports are coming in from fellow developers offering sympathy on Twitter, collected by Eurogamer. An official statement has not yet been released.
Just days ago, Disney reported the shut down of the Vancouver-based Propaganda Games following the conclusion of Tron: Evolution. The studio downsized in October 2010 when the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada Of The Damned game was cancelled.
UPDATE: CNBC is reporting that as much as half of the 700-employee company are affected. Warren Spector is said to be still employed at Junction Point.
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...
Also, Disney Interactive didn't have a great 2010 year. I guess they need to cut overhead or something to appease the mother corp.
Variety’s reporting that Disney has restructured into a digital-only publisher, and will now eschew retail and packaging.
“As part of setting a strategic direction for future success in the digital media space, the Disney Interactive Media Group today began a restructuring process,” read a statement to the site.
It follows claims that 700 jobs had been lost at the company, with Epic Mickey developer Junction Point also seeing lay-offs.
*Epic Mickey selling 1.5 million in the US