Epic Mickey Dev Hit With Layoffs

[More Fun To Compute]

Selling 1.3 million for an exclusive game is making a profit, you realize that right? If it were multiplatform and only sold 1.3 million that would still be breaking even. Seriously what cave are you in?

I'm in the sort of cave where we realise that games are expensive to make and for some titles sales of a million are not a big deal while for others sales of 50k are great. If Epic Mickey ramped up to Ass Creed or GTA5 type development costs then 1 million could easily be a financial loss maker.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

The epic mickey gameplay was forgettable and the executive meddling kept the moral choices from really meaning anything.

Disappointment from Spector but they can't all be gems. As far as I'm concerned he can ride UU SS1 and Deus Ex and produce crap from here to eternity and he will still be a deity.

 

[Cursed Frogurt]

It's a shame, really. Disney Interactive had some great sounding games that just didn't quite deliver.

Split/Second and Epic Mickey had some awesome ideas but the actual games just weren't that fun (for me, anyway).

It's a scary industry to work in and I wish them the best of luck elsewhere.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Selling 1.3 million for an exclusive game is making a profit, you realize that right? If it were multiplatform and only sold 1.3 million that would still be breaking even. Seriously what cave are you in?

I'm in the sort of cave where we realise that games are expensive to make and for some titles sales of a million are not a big deal while for others sales of 50k are great. If Epic Mickey ramped up to Ass Creed or GTA5 type development costs then 1 million could easily be a financial loss maker.

And I suppose this cave of yours doesn't let you access the knowledge that the average multiplatform decent game (i.e. NOT GTA IV or other AAA titles which can afford to cost hundreds of millions of dollars) costs around 30 million to make, that in order to make a profit would have to sell over 1.1 million, (due to the fact that publishers get $27 off of the $60 price tag for each game sold)

Source:http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/2068-Project-Ten-Dollar

The amount needed to break even with Epic Mickey was probably less due to the fact that the game is a Wii exclusive. 1.3 million in sale, Epic Mickey had to have been a success. It only took 2 years to develop while most games take 3-5 if developers want it to be good. That and it was Junction Point Studios' first game to be released in the 5 years it has been open.

And really, using games like GTA was not the best choice for comparison. Especially since GTA IV currently hold the world record as most expensive video game even to be released at $100 million. (Which will be beat by L.A. Noire). Console is not dying by any stretch. Especially when video games can make what Avatar made in it's first 3 months in theaters in one third the time these days. Disney just hasn't had a handle on video games. Why do you think they bought Marvel? They haven't had a handle on the male demographic for a while either.

 

[Senaro]

Pfft. There's plenty of money in consoles if you make games that don't suck. Disney barely invested anything into the games it was working on to begin with. And what about Kingdom Hearts? You know, that franchise that they're developing alongside Square that's sold over four million copies per each of the two main games in the series? Those are good-ass numbers for any game, let alone such a batshit insane concept that shouldn't be marketable.

This is what hurts. We can see the potential in Disney's properties, but apparently they can't.

If they made a new Duck Tales game for the 3DS, I'd be even more inclined to buy one.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

And I suppose this cave of yours doesn't let you access the knowledge that the average multiplatform decent game (i.e. NOT GTA IV or other AAA titles which can afford to cost hundreds of millions of dollars) costs around 30 million to make, that in order to make a profit would have to sell over 1.1 million, (due to the fact that publishers get $27 off of the $60 price tag for each game sold)

Source:http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/2068-Project-Ten-Dollar

The amount needed to break even with Epic Mickey was probably less due to the fact that the game is a Wii exclusive. 1.3 million in sale, Epic Mickey had to have been a success. It only took 2 years to develop while most games take 3-5 if developers want it to be good. That and it was Junction Point Studios' first game to be released in the 5 years it has been open.

And really, using games like GTA was not the best choice for comparison. Especially since GTA IV currently hold the world record as most expensive video game even to be released at $100 million. (Which will be beat by L.A. Noire). Console is not dying by any stretch. Especially when video games can make what Avatar made in it's first 3 months in theaters in one third the time these days. Disney just hasn't had a handle on video games. Why do you think they bought Marvel? They haven't had a handle on the male demographic for a while either.

Yeah, I don't follow extra credits as my source of information on the industry.

Epic Mickey was not a "average cost" development despite "only being a Wii game." Sales targets were something like 5 million which, I suppose, they could still hit but since word of mouth about the game isn't so great and the game is already discounted here in the UK, at least, they may not make targets.

I suppose that if they made Epic Mickey with a strict budget and released multiplatform then they could have made more money. But is the market for that game really on the HD consoles and would it have sold that much if it didn't have as much effort spent making the game and marketing it?

1 million is a poor figure for a Wii exclusive. Mario and Zelda games sell much more strongly and other publishers, especially Ubisoft, have had much more success with games that are much cheaper to make. Profits on Wii help cover the losses on the "oscar bait/GOTY bait" HD console games.

Also, something gratuitous.

 

[Frank_Sinatra_]

Its a crying shame that when the boss fucks up the underlings get punished

HEY, that's how I got fired yesterday!

You know, maybe they wouldn't have money problems or these sorts of things if they made some good games... Or just slapped Square across the face until they made Kingdom Hearts 3 instead of Kingdom Hearts portable 265.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Shall we blame the rampant piracy problems on the wii?

Or shall we let one pass for once?

Considering the nature of the title, I seriously doubt Epic Mickey died because of piracy.

 

[mjc0961]

It's been confirmed that the studio isn't about to be closed, and its most high-profile employee, founder and Deus Ex creator Warren Spector, is still there.

As usual, don't fire the guy who actually fucked up his game, just let go of a bunch of decent people who are good at their jobs so you can keep the losers who are wasting your time and money! Man, sometimes I hate the way businesses work (especially after losing a job the same way once).

And no, I don't give a crap if he made Deus Ex or anything else years ago. This time he made an awful game and then proceeded to rant about how no other game ever has has a good third person camera (untrue and a completely fucking stupid thing to say) and then say it's everyone else's fault for not understanding his game. You'd think between his inability to make a good game anymore and the PR nightmare his rants bring, you'd dump him the first change you get. But nope. Enjoy wasting all that money on him to make his next shitty game that doesn't sell well either Disney, you deserve it.

 

[tendo82]

I don't even feel like developer layoffs are sad news anymore. I say this because it just seems like a reality of the business everyone plans for. The publisher forms or hires a dev. team to make one game. After said game is created the team is either dissolved or kept around to make a sequel. I think its highly unlikely any of those people on the team assumed they would be around for more than the length of time it took to make the game anyway.

I think Hollywood more or less works the same way: you assemble a team to make a movie, then dissolve them once the movie is done. The video game industry is modelling itself after the film industry, expect frequent layoffs and frequent hirings of the same people that were just laid off onto new one off projects.

 

[NickCaligo42]

If they made a new Duck Tales game for the 3DS, I'd be even more inclined to buy one.

Not gonna agree here. Don't get me wrong, I love Duck Tales and I'd love even more to see a good Duck Tales game, but after seeing how they managed to mess up Epic Mickey there's not a lot for me to look forward to on that front; plus which, my inclination to buy a 3DS dropped the minute the phrase "launch window" entered the picture alongside its $250 price tag.

 

[Ghengis John]

Disney CEO, Bob Iger, has said [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/105245-Disney-Closing-the-Money-Bin-for-Console-Development] in the past that there isn't the money in console development that there used to be,

It's a lot harder to sell crappy games these days.

As usual, don't fire the guy who actually fucked up his game, just let go of a bunch of decent people who are good at their jobs so you can keep the losers who are wasting your time and money!

He didn't have anything to do with the lousiness of the tron evolution game.

 

[Senaro]

If they made a new Duck Tales game for the 3DS, I'd be even more inclined to buy one.

Not gonna agree here. Don't get me wrong, I love Duck Tales and I'd love even more to see a good Duck Tales game, but after seeing how they managed to mess up Epic Mickey there's not a lot for me to look forward to on that front; plus which, my inclination to buy a 3DS dropped the minute the phrase "launch window" entered the picture alongside its $250 price tag.

Probably right. That price tag is a bit excessive, especially considering the only game they're releasing that I want and don't already have(Street Fighter 4, OoT, Dead or Alive 4) is Phoenix vs Layton.

 

[Cadapalo]

Well when you spend so much money trying to hype up a bad to mediocre game it should be expected. I feel sorry for those losing their jobs though. Here's hoping they can move on and find someplace better.

 

[thedeathscythe]

Yeah, console gaming is dying. Outside of a few landmark titles that many people pick up there just isn't that much excitement about it any more, especially for new titles.

In my opinion, the biggest problem with this game was being console exclusive to the Wii. There was almost no camera control besides tapping a button to center it, and I think that they should have also made it for PS3 and Xbox 360. They could increase their sales, and IMO, released even better versions of the games, and I'm not just talking graphically or performance wise but even just as simply as the controls being easier.

I've only played it for a couple hours at my buddies house, but I just can't help the feeling that their exclusivity to the Wii is what is bringing it down. Sure, the user base on the Wii is larger, that's common knowledge, but it's sales weren't nearly as good as what they could have been, in fact I think their sales were pretty low. I think if the game had done better, then maybe these lay offs wouldn't have happened.