Disney shuts down Junction Point after Epic Mickey 2 sales fall short

Disney fans have quite a bit to look forward to, but it doesn't seem that a new game from Junction Point will be one of them. Disney shut down the Epic Mickey developer today, after sales of Epic Mickey 2 ultimately disappointed. At one point in the day, rumors claiming the game only sold 270,000 copies were making the rounds, but Joystiq has confirmed that Epic Mickey 2 sold 529,000 copies between its November 18th release date and the end of the year.

Though 529,000 copies is better than what was originally claimed, it still isn't great. Unfortunately, the game received mixed reviews upon release, which we can't imagine is something that helped slow sales. Officially, Disney says it shut down Junction Point as "part of our ongoing effort to address the fast-evolving gaming platforms and marketplace and to align resources against our key priorities."

It wasn't too long ago that Disney also shut down Black Rock Studios, so Junction Point is just the latest developer to be closed by the company. The fact that Disney has shut down two studios doesn't mean that it will leave the console space, though, as it recently announced Disney Infinity. With Infinity, Disney will try to tackle the market for Activision's Skylanders series, which has blown up into a massive franchise over the years.

Just as well, Disney announced the acquisition of Lucasfilm last year, meaning it now owns the Star Wars license. There's a rich history of Star Wars video games, but Disney says it will probably focus more on social and mobile games based on the property. For now, all attention will stay on Disney Infinity, and you can bet more details are coming soon. Stay tuned.

[via Forbes]