Epic Mickey is on the Wii because of its audience

October 23rd, 2009 Posted in News, Posted by Valay, Wii

When Epic Mickey was first hinted as being a Wii-exclusive, most gamers believed that the decision was made because of the controls the system offers. However, according to Warren Spector, the audience behind the platform is the primary reason why the title landed on the Wii. Spector told Game Informer that Epic Mickey could be a tough sell to those who play games like Halo and Grand Theft Auto.

“Well, think about it. Would you really want to tackle convincing Halo or Grand Theft Auto players that they want to be Mickey Mouse? Would you really want to do that? In terms of finding a congenial audience, let’s go for a platform that’s known for Mario and Link and now Sonic. Come on. Honestly, with the unit sales on the hardware, it was kind of a lucky happenstance. We made the call to go to the Wii long before it was clear that the Wii was going to be, at least for now, the best-selling platform.

It was about going where the audience is and going somewhere where they’re going to accept a visual style that is more cartoony than people are used to seeing and where we don’t feel obliged to throw in every shader on the planet. ‘Look at the normal maps and shaders.’ We don’t have to do that kind of stuff. It’s the right platform for this project, for sure.”

Source


  1. 15 Responses to “Epic Mickey is on the Wii because of its audience”

  2. By bob on Oct 23, 2009

    that makes sense

  3. By Hejiru on Oct 23, 2009

    Ugh I am SO sick of everyone thinking of the Wii as a kiddie console -_-

  4. By RideZeLitenin on Oct 23, 2009

    Well, that’s good to know.

  5. By IronROB on Oct 24, 2009

    You guys have read about the bit Warren says about Ducktales right?(Its on page 6)

    “Also, I want to do a Duck Tales game. Convince the world that a Duck Tales game needs to be made. I can’t convince anybody at Disney to let me do a Duck Tales game. How can that be?

    GI: Everybody I know, when you ask about the cartoons that they are fond of from childhood, there’s that varying list of all the action ones, the G.I. Joes and the Transformers and the Thundercats and all that stuff, but everybody loves Duck Tales.

    WS: Carl Barks really is the greatest American comic book writer and artist ever. Some people would say Will Eisner. There’s competition. But Carl Barks is the best, and he wrote and drew the stories that inspired half of those Duck Tales episodes, and they are watered down. You would not believe the beauty and the power of those stories. They’re not for kids. They’re really very adult or certainly appealing to the broadest possible audience, which is kind of where I want to be now. I don’t want to make games for kids, I don’t want to make games for gamers, I want to make games for everybody. I think if someone did Carl Barks or Duck Tales right, it would be awesome.”

    Isn’t that great? I’am all up for Warren doing a Ducktales game.

  6. By Jason Tanner on Oct 24, 2009

    I’m with on Hejiru,

    Warren Spector can F-off after that comment. Talk about stereotyping gamers.

  7. By Hejiru on Oct 24, 2009

    What I don’t like is his putting Link and Mickey Mouse in the same boat. =/

  8. By Caio on Oct 24, 2009

    Whatever the reasons, I’m happy this game is coming to the Wii.

  9. By thomas on Oct 24, 2009

    Really? I’m glad he’s putting Link and Mickey Mouse in a different boat from all those homoerotic brutes with giant guns. I’d rather jump onboard the “kiddy” boat :)

  10. By Hejiru on Oct 24, 2009

    Last paragraph translation: “The Wii is for little kids and they don’t care about graphics so we can get away with minimal effort.”

  11. By Caio on Oct 24, 2009

    @Hejiru
    I thought what he meant was on the Wii, Mickey doesn’t have to look like he just came back from Vietnam to sell. Then again, this is Mickey and he’ll sell games anyway.

    And that doesn’t mean they’ll put no effort in graphics, as cartoony does not mean bad.
    I actually think it’s the only way a Disney game can look.
    Then again, maybe it’s just wishful thinking from me.

  12. By name of me on Oct 24, 2009

    drop the idiot brigade its a kids console NONSENSE……IM FINE WITH MICKY I HAVE NO anti MICKY ISSUES but please drop the internet mythology of kiddy console crap

  13. By Hejiru on Oct 24, 2009

    @Caio

    Sorry, I wasn’t trying to imply cartoony graphics are bad; after all, I’m a fan of Wind Waker. It just sounded like he was stereotyping Wii players as little kids and not hardcore gamers.

  14. By Caio on Oct 24, 2009

    @Hejiru
    Nah, it’s cool, man. I just think a lot of the kiddie console thing wasn’t even expressly mentioned by Spector, it’s just an engrained stereotype so people tend to see it where it’s not..

  15. By Ponkotsu on Oct 24, 2009

    Man, people are taking this personally. It’s not an insult to the Wii – it’s that the HD crowd openly buys very few types of games and would outright reject anything that looked like this. Software sales on the Wii? Healthy. And games with all kinds of visuals are successes on the platform – Wii owners don’t demand imagination-free “realism.” And Mickey is all about imagination.

  16. By ed hardy on Nov 5, 2009

    It was a very nice idea! Just wanna say thank you for the information you have shared. Just continue writing this kind of post. I will be your loyal reader. Thanks again.

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