Warren Spector says he's "pretty proud" of Epic Mickey even if gamers "didn't get it"
Slip'em the Mick
Epic Mickey was a big deal when it was announced. Gamers actually got their first taste of the game through a series of leaked artwork, which showed a decidedly dark take on Mickey and his cohorts. This tone led many to believe the leak was made-up, but a few months later the project was confirmed, complete with Warren Spector leading the way.
Epic Mickey did well enough to warrant a sequel, but neither game brought in big sales. The titles also suffered in the reviews department, with both critics and gamers alike finding the experiences to be interesting, but unpolished. While the public reception to these titles was rather lukewarm, Spector himself remains quite fond of the works.
In an interview with VentureBeat, Spector opened up about his work on Epic Mickey. According to Spector, he received a considerable amount of backlash for his involvement with the games, and even if things didn’t pan out the way he hoped in terms of reception, he remains proud of what he and his team achieved.
If I’m playing a shooter and I’m not good enough, which I’m not, my option is to stop. And so I’ve always thought immersive sims were it. The sales have not borne that out. But I said to myself, when Disney came around with Mickey Mouse as my star, I could reach a mainstream audience with these ideas. And so Epic Mickey, it was an immersive sim, right? And gamers didn’t get it. I got so many emails and Twitter messages about sell out, sell out. But the philosophy was there if they had just taken the time to look for it. So I’m pretty proud of Epic Mickey too.
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conangiga
4M agoSeems he doesn't get what a sim is...
rick-fil-a
4M agoI think my idea and Warren's idea of immersive sims are slightly different.
I liked the the Epic Mickey games a lot, especially the first one. I remember the first one selling very well and reviewing decently well, but then the second one bombed in sales and reviewed more poorly. Having played both, I remember the second game feeling rushed and like it was missing planned content. Maybe it was cut because it wasn't working with the over all flow with the game, or maybe Disney made them rush it out the door for the holiday season?
I was also disappointed the Wii U version lacked motion controls, so I stuck with the Wii version.
I'm sorry to hear he got harassed over such a silly thing like a Mickey Mouse video game.
justinb
4M agoWeird to call it a sim game, but I do love those games dearly. I grew up with Mickey mouse games on the NES and Sega, so I have a soft spot for the mouse's games and these ones were genuinely great, even if the second was a bit lacking. I think people really need to judge games on their own merits as opposed to "this isn't as good as my favorite game".
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