14 DAY TRIAL // Reports from inside video game publisher Disney Interactive are indicating that the company is laying off quite a number of employees, both from developer Junction Point Studios and from the headquarters that are located in Los Angeles.
Some sources are saying that no less than half of the people working for Disney Interactive might have been affected.
The publisher has responded saying that the layoffs at Junction Point “were fairly minimal and it is part of a larger restructuring at Disney Interactive Studios, which is part of Disney Interactive Media Group.”
Apparently, the core developer group at the company has not been affected by the move and Warren Spector is still working for Junction Point.
Epic Mickey, the game that Junction Point has developed and Warren Spector has designed, was released late last year specifically for the Nintendo Wii home gaming console and has managed to sell more than 1.3 million copies in the United States during the all important Christmas shopping season.
The developer recently talked about how he could see a sequel to Epic Mickey being created and about how the gameplay of the game could be further refined and expanded for it.
It's not clear whether Disney Interactive is interested in creating any more big titles, which require time and resources to be created, meaning that Epic Mickey 2 might never become a reality.
Disney has also recently shut down Propaganda Games, the developer that worked on Tron: Evolution, the game that accompanies the most recent movie in the series.
In the middle of 2010, Disney Interactive bought Playdom, company which specializes in the development of social games, for more than 750 million dollars.
The move suggests that Disney is more interested in creating titles that appeal to a wider player base and use other business models that the rigid retail one.