Pretty much this. Disney purchased/Started a bunch of developers over the past few years to really try and make an impact in the game market. But with the purchase of playdom (for $763 million) by Disney they changed their whole focus. Instead of big console games they are going with mobile/social.
I dunno... if its Disney doing the studio shuffle then they're more likely to pull a Junction Point and start off fairly big by installing some pretty talented people with an eye at growing the studio pretty quickly as the project takes off. It will probably be smaller at first, but it won't be your typical indie start up…
From Gamesindustry.biz: "The move seems to reflect Disney's new direction of social and mobile development, which began with a statement to press last November that the corporation would be putting less money into console development in order to maximise profit. "We've seen a pretty big shift in games from console to what…
I hate hearing this since I was working at Disney Interactive at the time this studio was founded. But after the POTC game was cancelled it seemed like trouble was on the horizon. Hope everyone can find jobs quickly! The few guys I met there were very awesome.
Wow, had no idea about Epic Mickey! That's great news! (it was very contrary to what I'd heard before the holidays). The expectations internally were VERY high for Toy Story 3 (considering the successes of various other HUGE movie releases). They dumped a BOATLOAD of money into internal development of Toy Story 3, just to…
Why blame the suits at Disney? When it's the customers (or lack thereof) that speak with their wallets. The Toy Story 3 game cost a TON to make, and had over 80% on Metacritic, and was by all means considered a HUGE critical success.... and the sales have been a bit of a flop. Huge open world sandbox game with a high…