275 people working on Epic Mickey

By Oli Welsh Published 23 June, 2010

"You have to go big" - Spector.

Warren Spector has revealed to 1UP that close to 275 people are working on his Wii exclusive, Epic Mickey.

"When you have a project this ambitious, you have to go big!" he said.

The figure includes 115 staff at Spector's studio Junction Point, but is boosted by outsourcing. The major production of art assets - such as cut-scenes and level environments - is happening at other firms around the world.

Spector pointed to the huge development teams for Call of Duty: Black Ops and Assassin's Creed II as examples of this trend in game development, although as 1UP points out, it's unusual to see such a large workforce on a Wii-only game.

Epic Mickey is due out in the autumn of this year.

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (31) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Negotiator #1 2 years ago

    What a waste of money.

  • Shinetop #2 2 years ago

    "What a waste of money."

    Read: "I need to assert myself by blasting somebody's achievements without any sort of reasoning or informed opinion."

    And no, the irony is not wasted on me.

  • mingster #3 2 years ago

    Wish it was Metal mickey.

  • Ninja_Tino #4 2 years ago

    It's the concept art that proved to be the game's first hurdle. It was magnificent and so unexpected that when those rather mundane screenshots appeared months ago disappointment struck web-wide. Still, the E3 stuff looks more promising and the best thing to do is get the artwork out of our heads. Here's hoping Big Cock, oh sorry, Epic Mickey, will be brilliant. I love Mickey, even as an oversized-key-wielding killing machine.

  • space_ace #5 2 years ago

    nice, but where's Epic Ghibli?

  • towser #6 2 years ago

    I nearly choked on my drink there. Wow!

    Guess any profit related bonuses the team may get will be fairly low then. That's an insane amount of people to have on a team and expect the game to break even. Sounds like they're expecting to shift serious copies of this - all well and good in theory though...

  • Eraser #7 2 years ago

    What? He needs 115 staff to support 160 tech people?

  • Evolution #8 2 years ago

    @towser

    As he says, it's only 115 at the actual studio. The rest are outsourced so likely aren't paid the same or even have a profit share.

  • towser #9 2 years ago

    @Evolution

    True. Still, 115 people for any game is a hefty amount.:-)
    Edited by towser at 23/06/10 @ 12:17

  • LOLLERS #10 2 years ago

    Outsourcing often costs more for a given asset, especially when you consider the time in-house artists have to spend putting outsourced stuff in the game, it doesn't come for free. The cost saving is mostly in not having to pay that artist every month and other overheads. I agree with the first post, what a waste of money, but thats Disney for you.

    Edited by LOLLERS at 23/06/10 @ 12:30

  • TheDudesRug #11 2 years ago

    Isn't he in prison for murdering some harlet?

  • brseg #12 2 years ago

    Not sure that 100-200 people is anything unusual, or the outsourcing. AC2 had ~450 people at one stage. Forza3 had over 300.
    Another example, Bioshock team was smaller, but ~130. Killzone2 - around 200.
    (most of this info is from Gamasutra dev articles).
    Look at the credits section of RDR - huge number of people!
    Edited by brseg at 23/06/10 @ 13:22

  • Nodebug #13 2 years ago

    Well I hope they make money out of it :/

  • dfish #14 2 years ago

    @brseg
    well its seems unusually high for a wii title, but to paraphrase a capcom exec: quality doesnt come cheap regardless of platform (referring to Zack and Wiki development costs). So maybe its not that unexpected. However the fear is it will fail and third party's will end up saying never again to original ips on wii ( A bit like capcom)

  • RobertFoster #15 2 years ago

    Go big with your Epic Mickey :D

    >_>

    I take it "mickey" is only slang for penis in Ireland then...
    Edited by RobertFoster at 23/06/10 @ 13:32

  • Kaminari #16 2 years ago

    Epic Fail

  • brseg #17 2 years ago

    @dfish - good points.
    Disney will blow the bank on marketing, one assumes. One risk is that Mario etc is retro-cool, for older players. Mickey, on the other hand...

  • twoism #18 2 years ago

    @space ace - Epic Ghibli will be known as Ninokuni ;)

  • Senate #19 2 years ago

    I don't see what the fuss is about with this game? Watched a gameplay clip and all but whats the big deal?

  • jonfon #20 2 years ago

    @RobertFoster : "I take it "mickey" is only slang for penis in Ireland then..."

    Apparently so. Every time I read this title I giggle like a little schoolgirl (I'm not a little schoolgirl, I just giggle like one). It's like a line from The Commitments or The Snapper or something.

  • rayscoota #21 2 years ago

    This one game on the wii Im really looking forward to playing, looks real interesting from the E3 footage.

  • riceNpea #22 2 years ago

    i would like to see Mickey as portrayed in South Park, the pscho, shit kicking, mob boss selling sex to kids. that's the Disney way.

  • ZuluHero #23 2 years ago

    @TheDudesRug

    I think you're mistaking him for Phil Spector?

    (I don't think they are related)

  • Huxamalay #24 2 years ago

    Just remake Castle of Illusion FFS

  • darc #25 2 years ago

    @Thought_Criminal, spot-on. Nothing good ever comes from "throwing bodies at the problem", though it seems to be the only approach some managers can wrap their heads around. 275 people, and I can guess how many of them really care about the game, and how many of them really understand the tech.

    That doesn't mean the game won't be good, however. It just means that whatever they get, they'll have spent too much getting it.

  • makeamazing #26 2 years ago

    Maybe i will get negged for this, but i would have to ask why the need for so many people on a Mickey Mouse game... perhaps i am just too old, but that seems a hell of a lot of people on a single platform title, and more importantly for a mickey mouse game.... but then perhaps this will sell Mario levels, so it wont be a problem.

  • alan1302 #27 2 years ago

    How many people moaning about how many people are working on this game actually have any idea of how many people it takes to make a game?

  • darc #28 2 years ago

    "How many people moaning about how many people are working on this game actually have any idea of how many people it takes to make a game?"

    I'd reckon most know that it depends on the game. That said, the entire thrust of the article is that ALOT of people are working on the game, so no one is going way out on a limb here.
    Edited by darc at 23/06/10 @ 21:12

  • anomagnus #29 2 years ago

    I do wonder, hows the target audience for epic mickey. It doesn't seem to be aimed kids, and mickey mouse doesnt lend himself well the gamer segment of the market.

    I worry that this is a game resulting from a 'thats a cool idea' brain storming session, that hasnt really thought about its target

  • jamesslater #30 2 years ago

    @anomagnus, I think the game is being sold to "gamers" more as "Warren Spector's Next Project" rather than "Another Licensed Cartoon Character Game", although obviously both are somewhat true - that's my perspective anyway. A similar analogy might be that gamers don't look forward to "the next Mario game" as much as they do "the next Miyamoto platformer", if that makes sense.

    Mickey isn't (supposed to be) "kiddy" in the same way that, say, "Peppa Pig" is - his appeal is meant to be universal. It's an overused analogy, but Mickey was basically the Mario of his day. Discerning gamers will always embrace games with imagination and flair, even with (sometimes especially because of) "cartoony" overtones, as Super Mario Galaxy 2's recent reviews amply demonstrate.

  • brseg #31 2 years ago

    @jamesslater - I see your point, but I still feel this game needs to be top-drawer for some people to physically walk into a shop and buy a game which involves Mickey/Disney stuff. If its a 10/10 game, wont matter, but if its not quite that good I think it will matter. With Spector's team on it, I think its got every chance, so we'll see..!