Disney Confirms That Junction Point Has Been Closed

That's sad, if not surprising. If Epic Mickey 2 did as bad as you say, it seems they can't make a profitable gaming franchise. One success does not a good franchise make.
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Oh, I got first comment. That's a first for me.

So much for Spector making Epic Mickey 3,4,5,6 and a prequel, am I right?

So there goes Warren's Ducktales game?

Anyway, this is a bit sad. I loved the original Epic Mickey.

Let's see what is next for Spector after Mickey, I'm curious.

I guess this is the end for the possibities of a new Duck Tales game. Too bad, I love that show.

Current state of gaming. It is just going to get worse, and if Microsoft and Sony release a new console, it will destroy the industry. It costs way to much to make games anymore and no one even has half an inkling of just how expensive it is.

We should stay on the current console generation for another five years at least, just to finally balance out the expenses it takes to produce quality games. I feel like just as last generation consoles died, they had finally figured out how to make beautifully rendered, well played games... but it was too little too late.

Developers need time to get acquainted with technology and its limitations. Not throw it out the moment they hear the word "NEW!"

Man, this kind of sucks. I was a little disappointed with some aspects of the 2nd Epic game, but I really enjoyed the concept of it, and think it could have been taken farther in the future. I hope we still get some new good Mickey games before too long.

That's a shame. Never played any of the Epic Mickeys, but it's too bad they had to close their doors.

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I seriously feel like crying...

I liked Epic Mickey. I was anticipating it as soon as E3 ended. It was an excellent love letter to Disney fans (like myself) and is concidered one of my favorite Wii titles.
I hope this doesn't mean that Oswald the Lucky Rabbit's comeback is short lived.

@Kyloctopus Right! This can't be Oswalds last appearance! I refuse to let him slip into obscurity again! It would just be too sad!

I still need to get around to playing Deus Ex. System Shock was pretty cool, but I had too little patience in those days. Wow! His history is amazing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Spector#Video_games

I never knew that he was involved in all of these titles. Many of these are considered the best RPG's ever made. Best of luck to Mr. Spector and all of the employees.

That´s kinda sad, even if I didn´t like the 1st game that much.

ah, this was coming. First one sold wonderfully, but the second and power of illusion sold badly, so thats probably why they broke up

That's a bit harsh. Junction Point only made two games and Disney shuts them down. Sure Epic Mickey 2 did horrible, but that's harsh.

Maybe EM2 was bad because they suspected their studio would be shut down... ya never know...

That's a shame. The series had so much potential, but a stumble with the second game appears to have sunk Junction Point. R.I.P.

Come, Warren Spector...JOIN THE NINTENDO SIDE!!

@AltDotNerd
That´s a good one. I´d like to see that happen before he retires.

I loved Epic Mickey, just I never got the 2nd due to not having any money. Nintendo Land is still my only Wii U game!

@Oxy Another 5 years? Really? This gen has been going on for way too long, and Steam proves there's still a market for smaller games.

Bummer. It seems our industry is more cut throat than we'd like to think it is. Too bad, since the Epic Mickey franchise is one of the most interesting Disney IPs ever since Kingdom Hearts first came out.

The first game, while good, didn't "wow" me enough to buy the second. There were a few issues with plot liniarity and such. For instance, there was one area where I was working on a side quest, then I accidentally advanced onto the next area before I realised that by doing so, I could no longer complete it. Then there were two separate ways to complete everything: "good" paintn and "evil" thinner, which presumably affected the outcome of the final ending. Good for replay value. It's just that like me, a lot of people didn't buy the second game. After all, Epic Mickey is not Super Mario Galaxy...

I really did not enjoy Epic Mickey 2 for the PS3, but I did not expect that it would do poorly in sales.

While this is sad, Epic Mickey 2 did make a lot of mistakes. All it really was was an expansion of the first game with all old the problems like the camera still intact.

Epic Mickey 1 had game play problems (the combat was VERY boring in my opinion), the camera was plain horrid and just made you angry at how it very often refused to show you what you needed or wanted to look at (trying to jump on a platform? It'll focus the camera in front of Mickey and not let you move it, ensuring you can't see what you're trying to jump to). The whole concept of the game, where if you made selfish decisions it would have negative results on the world and give you a bad/evil ending, was disallowed by Disney who said Mickey games were not allowed to have Mickey portrayed as an intentionally uncaring protagonist and could not have a bad ending, so instead your choices were now meaningless. I wanted the games to be good, but as they were terrible, I can't say I care there isn't going to be another Epic Mickey.

@AugustusOxy Or developers could just develop on the cheaper Wii U.

It's sad, but what do you expect after the second game was a flop.

Considering how many mixed things I have heard about the Epic Mickey games (I currently only own the first one and haven't played it yet, but plan to buy the other two down the road), this really doesn't surprise me. People can blame Warren Spector all day long, but I think that Disney could have limited his vision and possibly rushed the games. I have heard that Disney prevented Spector from putting certain things in the game, and Disney likely rushed DreamRift on finishing Power of Illusion in time for the holidays. I really don't see the logic of Disney doing these things when those games weren't even based on any movies. I guess Disney viewed the Epic Mickey games as nothing more than a quick buck.

Regardless of whose fault is whose, it's sad that Junction Point Studios will never get the chance to become something extraordinary.

Warren should join Dreamrift and continue the franchise as 2D 3DS installments that can be ported to PSN/XBLA/eShopU.

I own and enjoy Epic Mickey 2 on the 3ds very much!

This is just sad for gaming overall.

Es no bueno

This industry is getting worse and worse.

So long to another platforming franchise and a promising studio.

Now we'll never get that DuckTales game. :/

It is sad to see people lose their jobs. Hopefully they can find work very soon. But, personally, I'm glad there won't be another Ostensibly-Epic Mickey.

Even if I didn't like the first game (I thought it was pretty boring) and didn't buy the second, it's still sad to see people lose their jobs like this.

I am not surprised by this. the games didn't sell enough. If the games had more polish to fix camera issues they might of been successful. plus I never once seen a Commercial either game on Television.

I agree with people sad about more people in the gaming industry loosing their jobs

It really is sad that one poorly selling game can kill off studios these days.

One game fails. Studio is closed.

My what a healthy industry the games industry is.

I thought Epic Mickey was a good way to teach kids about old cartoons.Too bad EM2 was such a flop.

Thats too bad, I would probably be sad, but I didn't really like the first Epic Mickey, and didn't feel the need to try the second.

This makes sense. Disney obsession with making money is nothing new. Make something that garners great reviews and fans but doesn't sell well is scrapped. Same with most major companies, even Nintendo. (Where's my Pro Wrestling sequel?

Sucks for those who worked on the games. Not sorry for lack of future Epic Mickey games, though...which this may not even mean...

I hope Disney didn't pull an 'EA' on Spector, just like EA did with Richard Garriot and Origin Systems

@Le_Wario26 "obsession with making money"...

You do realise that is the sole purpose that a company exists, right? I'll never understand why people pretend that companies should be doing more than making money. It would be completely unethical, and likely illegal, for a company to deliberately lose interest in making money.

That's a bummer for those that lost their jobs, but I can't say I'm too broken up about it.

The way things are going, soon gamers will only have COD, Fifa, Mario, & Halo to play.
This industry is eating itself alive, & new super powered consoles from MS & Sony are just going to make things worse development wise.
The gaming crash happened 30 years ago this year, it might be celebrating its anniversary with some new friends....

@ngamer155 Yes I Agree. They Could've Given Them A Second Chance

@MeowGravy And that is why I'm most likely going to stick with just Wii U this generation. Call me crazy, but I want a little more than sports games, shooters, and pc ports.

@YujiPro You do realise that if the rest of the industry collapses, so will Nintendo, right?

@Raylax The only way Junction Point would have gone under due to bankruptcy is if Disney itself went through bankruptcy.

I wonder why Epic Mickey 2 and Power of Illusion were released when they were, as clearly they were unfinished products. They were both released on Wii U launch day, which doesn't make any sense; Power of 2 was multi-platform, and Power of Illusion was a 3DS exclusive.

I wanted Epic Mickey 3 and 4...

Wow you make 1 game that doesn't sell, & your studio gets shut down? How sad...

I had hoped for a better fate for them, but the truth is they probably weren't that good! Epic Mickey was far from great, and according to many reviews the sequel was worse!

Well at the very least some of the employees got jobs at Retro.

Never liked EM series and never will... glad to hear this...

so where is Warren Spector going now? i would recommend for him to go work at Rare or Double Fine production.

That is a massive shame,I really enjoyed the Epic Mickey games,sad to see we won't get a threequel.
I really hope Oswald doesn't fade into obscurity again,hopefully he'll appear in Disney Infinity.

I feel like I could cry.

@seronja Spector working at Rare? LOL, no.

"These changes are part of our ongoing effort to [close studios that make no effort to playtest or polish their games]."

Fixed.

YEAH!! F--k these guys! I hated their games and everyone who worked on them and now I'm GLAD they're all unemployed!!!

Signed,
Every black-hearted, spoiled brat on this forum to make this same, basic sentiment.

@br1an I don't like the Epic Mickey series, but I would never be so callous to say something like that. I hope ever EM detractor agrees.

"Well at the very least some of the employees got jobs at Retro"

Hopefully they are GOOD employees!! I would cry a ocean if they would mess up Retro's games!! It would be terrible!!