Gaming Studio Junction Point Closes

It's been a rollercoaster of a week already for the Austin gaming scene. Following Vigil's closure last week and yesterday's announcement of Crytek opening a new studio comes the news that Junction Point – the studio behind Epic Mickey 1 and 2 and spearheaded by gaming legend Warren Spector – will close its doors.

Representatives for Disney, the studio's parent company, have been quoted ad nauseam, saying, "These changes are part of our ongoing effort to address the fast-evolving gaming platforms and marketplace and to align resources against our key priorities." That roughly translates to "eff you." What that means for the 150-odd employees of the studio is that they are out of jobs. There were hints of trouble after Epic Mickey 2 shipped and many employees were forced to go on extended "vacations" which became permanent today.

Epic Mickey hit stores during the 2011 holiday season, and it sold relatively well but got mixed reviews from the press. The second installment in the series, released just a few months ago was an unmitigated failure, selling only 270,000 copies, and getting bad to middling reviews. Gaming culture site Polygon is reporting that Warren Spector won't be staying with Disney. No official word on his future plans yet.