Disney shutters Epic Mickey studio, says it is "extremely grateful" to team for creative contributions; Warren Spector leaving Disney altogether.

Junction Point Studios is no more. Disney Interactive provided a statement to Joystiq today, noting that it decided to close the Austin, Texas-based Epic Mickey studio due to organizational changes.

"It was with much sadness that we informed our teams today of changes to our Games organization, which include the closure of Junction Point Studios," a Disney representative said.

"We're extremely grateful to [Junction Point founder Warren Spector] and the Junction Point team for their creative contributions to Disney with Disney Epic Mickey and Disney Epic Mickey 2."

Separately, a Disney representative has confirmed with Polygon that Spector has left Disney altogether.

It is not clear what additional effect, if any, Disney's organizational shift will have on its Games division. The company recently announced Disney Infinity, a new "toys to life" game that is currently in development at Avalanche Software for release this June.

Potential trouble at Junction Point came to light this week, when sources said staff had been on leave for more than a month. It is not clear how many were employed at the time at the company.

Junction Point shipped Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two in November. The game was not a critical or commercial success for Disney, recording mediocre review scores and reportedly selling 270,000 copies in the United States by the end of 2012.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot