Disney Interactive starting new Tron game while it lays off staff
Disney Interactive Studios is starting work on a new Tron game at the same time it's joining the long list of companies laying off staff and consolidating development studios.
A spokersperson declined to comment, but sources tell me DIS is talking to developers about a "Tron" game that will be tied to "TR2N," the film sequel that its sibling studio is producing. The movie, which will star Jeff Bridges, Garret Hedlund and Olivia Wilde and be directed by Joseph Kosinski, is tentatively scheduled for 2011, which is when we can expect to see the game too.
This is, of course, a no-brainer. "Tron" was a movie about videogames that spawned several successful arcade games (classics of my youth), as well as a sequel in 2003. So with a new movie coming out, what were the odds Disney was not going to do a new videogame?
Nonetheless, it's exciting news to have a full fledged new Tron coming. And it's good news that the movie is more than two years out (i'll go out on a limb and say Disney won't release it in the Winter), since that means the game will have a solid amount of production time.
But it's not all light cycles and ricocheting discs at Disney Interactive. The media conglomerate's videogame arm laid off almost 30 people at its Propaganda Games studio in Vancover, maker of last year's fairly well received (I thought it was pretty good), so-so seller "Turok." According to Kotaku, that's tied to the cancellation of "Turok 2." From what I can gather, a sequel isn't necessarily dead, since Disney retains the rights it to the character it optioned from Classic Media, and two teams remain at work at Propaganda. But it is likely a follow-up is on hold, or back to the drawing board.
Also feeling the pinch are a pair of DIS's six internal developers: Fall Line and Avalanche. The two Salt Lake City-based studios are merging together into one entity that will focus on games based on Disney animated films. That has already been Avalanche Games' raison d'etre, while Fall Line's latest game was "Ultimate Band," which didn't sell too well or win over many critics (Variety's Chris Dahlen panned it). A Disney rep said that Fall Line will bring Avalanche expertise on Wii and DS, which are more than ever the platforms that matter for kid-focused titles. Upcoming games in the works from the newly merged studios include "Toy Story 3" for 2010 and, though it hasn't yet been announced, probably "The Princess and the Frog" for this December.
Other Disney studios unaffected by the layoffs include U.K.-based Black Rock, maker of "Pure" (a racing game I loved that just missed my top ten for 2008), Junction Point in Texas, Warren Spector's company that's rumored to be making some kind of platformer starring Mickey Mouse, and China-based Gamestar, which does outsourcing work.
Chris Morris reports on the business and culture of video games and offers analysis of recent events and industry trends.
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I've had 3 friends work at DIS over the years, and via their experiences I can say:
1). That interactive group has always has a revolving door - poorly managed from the top down and they do not foster any loyalty.
2). There is a decent amount of redundancy within the corporate offices (not sure about their developers).
3). They've had a tough time attracting top-tier talent at corporate (see #1).
So I suppose this latest news isn't terribly surprising.
Posted by: Cris Waters | February 02, 2009 at 10:33 AM
It’s a challenging reality that even though a powerhouse like Disney is facing cutbacks in the current economic climate, they must still maintain a top-class level of output to compete.
I’ve worked in children’s media since 2003 and the industry seems to have been faced with these incremental decreases only to bounce back after a while. I believe this is attributed to advances in broadcast mediums like social media and mobile phone applications offering audiences new content experiences, and as staging content across different platforms requires a broader range of skills, demand grows for expertise in these areas.
My hope is that, as the market starts to get back on its feet, studios will further their scope of projects beyond the ones already announced like Tron and Toy Story 3 over the next two or three years, increasing production demand. Right now that’s looking a little far-fetched, but we’ll see.
Posted by: Shane | February 01, 2009 at 02:38 PM