Dear Reader:

You are viewing a story from GN Version 5.0. Time may not have been kind to formatting, integrity of links, images, information, etc.

Warren Spector takes issue with Disney CEO comments bemoaning their game projects over the years

by rawmeatcowboy
06 February 2019
GN Version 5.0

Disney CEO Bob Iger recently talked about Disney's various forays into the game industry. As you might know, their releases have been hit or miss in recent years, and there have been some closures and cancellations mixed in. Mr. Iger offered up the following comments on their video game troubles.

“We’re good at making movies and television shows and theme parks and cruise ships and the like, we’ve just never managed to demonstrate much skill on the publishing side of games. Over the years, as you know, we’ve tried our hand at self-publishing, we’ve bought companies, we’ve sold companies, we’ve bought developers, we’ve closed developers. And we’ve found over the years that we haven’t been particularly good at the self-publishing side, but we’ve been great at the licensing side which obviously doesn’t require that much allocation of capital.”

Those comments didn't sit well with iconic developer Warren Spector. Spector was involved with Disney on a very deep level with two projects, Epic Mickey, and Epic Mickey: The Power of Two. While the first game managed to pull in decent-but-mixed reviews, the sequel didn't fare well at all. Spector has defended both games since day one, and obviously feels Mr. Iger's comments were a bit disrespectful of the work he's done. Here's what Spector said after he learned of Iger's comments.

Huh. I guess I should be insulted when Robert Iger says Disney has never been good at video games, but I’ll just take the high road and stand proud with the Epic Mickey team and laud them for the great work they - we - did for Disney.

I greatly respect Epic Mickey for what it aimed to be, and what Spector and his team worked to achieve. The end result may not have been what I was hoping for, but the amount of heart and dedication shown in the game was definitely worthy of praise. Unfortunately, I believe most fans look back on Epic Mickey as a blip on the rader, rather than a watershed moment for Disney games.

[Link]