Epic Mickey 2 Bombs Badly

[Andy Chalk]

Epic Mickey 2 Bombs Badly

The odds of a third Epic Mickey game aren't looking too good.

The Walt Disney Co. made a lot of noise yesterday about its Skylanders-like Epic Mickey 2 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121537-Disney-Blends-Skylanders-and-Minecraft-in-Disney-Infinity]. For good reason, as it turns out, because according to NPD sales data, it was a bomb. A big one.

The original Epic Mickey [http://www.amazon.com/Disney-Epic-Mickey-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B002I0GEXM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358357525&sr=8-1&keywords=Epic+Mickey] managed 1.3 million sales between its launch in late November 2010 and the end of that year, making it a "modest success," in the words of the L.A. Times. Epic Mickey 2, on the other hand, came out in late November 2012 and managed just 270,000 unit sales by the end of that year. Making the comparison even uglier, Epic Mickey 2 was available for the Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and Mac, while Epic Mickey was a Wii exclusive.

Why did it tank so badly? I never played it but Susan Arendt did and in her words, Epic Mickey 2 was a "mechanical improvement" on the original but had none of its charm. "It wasn't endearing. The first one, you wrestled with the controls, but there was love there," she said. "This one? Lifeless. Looked great, played well enough, but a snooze."

The report said it's unclear at this point whether Disney will continue its relationship with Spector's Junction Point Studios, but given the performance of Epic Mickey 2 and the company's recent acquisition of Lucasfilm [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120408-Disney-Acquires-Lucasfilm], which includes videogame studio LucasArts, it doesn't seem likely.

Source: L.A. Times [http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-disney-infinity-20130115,0,3494101.story]


Permalink

 

[Erttheking]

Yeah forget I said anything

 

[Zhukov]

I wasn't even aware that this was out.

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that Epic Mickey 2 was a thing that was happening, but I had no idea it was a thing that had happened.

 

[Ignatz_Zwakh]

Well, bye-bye Warren Spector. Guess he'll have to move on to a different license. Unless Disney tosses him one more bone.

 

[BrotherRool]

I didn't realise it had been released yet. What happened? I heard about it pre-release

I don#t think there's even a review here about it. Did they forget to send anyone a copy or did they just release it in the Christmas binge and not advertise it?

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

Well, Disney is a company that made a lot of good movies and licensed games and Warren Spector is a developer who made a lot of absolutely brilliant games. That the whole "Epic Mickey" thing wasn't working out very well became apparent when the first one was released and it was not hard to see that the sequel wasn't gonna be better. I think it better for Disney and Spector to move on to other things.

 

[Smooth Operator]

This came out? What the hell kind of advertisement did they have if people didn't even know the release came.
Well I can't say Epic Mickey was all that charming, most of the world was actually really dull and empty, if this is even worse... I can't even comprehend how you do that.

Was EA in charge at any point?

 

[Something Amyss]

I wasn't even aware that this was out.

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that Epic Mickey 2 was a thing that was happening, but I had no idea it was a thing that had happened.

Yeah, I think promotion may have been one of the issues here. I wasn't really interested in it, but the lack of info may have been a big part.

 

[D Moness]

Waiting for people to flame Nintendo on this one.

Wonder how they are going to twist that into flaming nintendo seeing as when it was exclusive it sold over 5 times more

 

[Eternal_Lament]

Unlike a few posters here, I knew Epic Mickey 2 was a thing

How did I know it was a thing?

Because Youtube would play ads for the game for every video I watched for about 2 months before it came out, and it was the same goddamn trailer, over and over.

Ugh...

Anyways, not to surprised. I remember watching the Happy Hours at Spill for the game, and remembered thinking it just looked so dull. All the colors actually made it look bland, as it seemed like things were just slapped on everywhere instead of properly designed.

 

[Pyrian]

Go back to "making games about guys in black leather carrying guns"! Ref: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/84528-Warren-Spector-Is-Tired-Of-Leather-Clad-Men

 

[Erttheking]

Waiting for people to flame Nintendo on this one.

Wonder how they are going to twist that into flaming nintendo seeing as when it was exclusive it sold over 5 times more

Oh, it's not an exsclusive anymore? Well then.

 

[Jandau]

There was an Epic Mickey 2? Huh...

 

[IanDavis]

I always heard enough qualified responses to the game that I decided to avoid it. The first one sounded like "cute idea, but clumsy to play", while the second one sounded a lot like "clumsy co-op". True or not, those were the memes that entered my brain.

 

[soren7550]

Yeah, like most everyone here, I wasn't even really aware that it was released. I knew it existed, but had seen almost no advertisement for it.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Well, bye-bye Warren Spector. Guess he'll have to move on to a different license. Unless Disney tosses him one more bone.

He also made "Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion" which released near the same time and that game was brilliant. At least what part of it I have played.

I have that one, but haven't tried it yet. Encouraging to hear that it's fun.

 

[Shinsei-J]

Yeah forget I said anything

So just like everyone did with this game?

OT: I found the game mostly forgetable with nothing of real worth beyond a small time sink.
I didn't like it basically.

 

[Radoh]

Waiting for people to flame Nintendo on this one.

Wonder how they are going to twist that into flaming nintendo seeing as when it was exclusive it sold over 5 times more

Oh, it's not an exsclusive anymore? Well then.

The article very clearly said that, which is rather disheartening that people would comment on an article without actually reading the article. That's just as bad as commenting on a thread without reading the OP.

Making the comparison even uglier, Epic Mickey 2 was available for the Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC and Mac, while Epic Mickey was a Wii exclusive

OT: Another for the pile of people who had no idea that it was even a thing.
Ad campaigns for this sort of thing tend to help sell the release, I feel like they would know this.
If I didn't know any better I'd think they were trying to make it bomb this hard.