Former Blizzard VP Bill Roper, who joined Disney last July to look after Marvel franchises at DIS, will take over his responsibilities.

Seropian joined Disney in 2009 after his studio Wideload was bought by the company. Before that, he was one of the co-founders of Bungie.

He took up his role at Disney as head of its development studios last May. It’s unknown where he’s off to next.

Seropian’s departure follows a radical pull-back from core gaming in the past year-and-a-half, closing studios such as Split/Second developer Black Rock and Tron Evolution studio Propaganda Games, with only Warren Spector’s Junction Point being the only remaining well-known developer on its books.

It announced last week it had acquired a majority stake in the parent company of UTV Ignition.

Big congrats to Warren.

A BBC report indicates Disney intends to delist UTV, swallowing it whole.

The acquisition was first reported in July 2011, and seems unrelated to either company’s subsidiary games publishing concerns, instead presented as a foray into India by The Walt Disney Company, the world’s largest media conglomerate. It is not yet clear how UTV Ignition and its properties will be affected.

Both UTV Ignition and Disney Interactive struggled in 2011. UTV Ignition gave up on internal development, shelving Project Kane (WarDevil) and Reich in the process, despite reasonable interest in El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron, a product of its Japanese studio which became a local phenomenon. The publisher also battened down the hatches, closing its LA, London and Florida offices in favour of a single Texas studio.

Disney Interactive announced it would gradually restructure into a digital-only publisher, and continued to post losses, although its long-term strategy is to hit profitability in 2013.

Thanks, GameInformer.

A site source said there was “no reason” to suspect the project, which is due for a release alongside the movie this summer, had been canned.

It comes after IGDA analyst Kevin Dent said on Twitter on Sunday that the publisher had returned IP to Disney after paying an advance – with no refund.

This was in addition to the rumours that Warhammer 40k: Dark Millennium and the company’s entire 2014 lineup had been canned. That has since been denied by THQ.

The Brave title, which is still to be announced, will be the final game released under THQ’s current development deal with Pixar, according to Develop’s source, which was signed before it was picked up by Disney.

According to the preserved text, presented in full below, the sequel to the 2010 Wii exclusive is due in northern autumn, will release on PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360, and feature split screen co-op play. The second player will take control of classic Disney character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

As for the text’s origins, GameInformer reposted it from Stitch Kingdom, but while the post is still visible in search results, it is no longer accessible. The newsletter itself is also reported to have been edited.

“Disney Epic Mickey 2 is the latest game in the critically acclaimed Disney Epic Mickey videogame series. In this all-new action-platforming game available for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii, Mickey embarks on an epic journey and is pulled back into a world filled with Disney’s forgotten characters. Players can choose to play single-player as Mickey or for the first time players can also choose 2-player split screen mode. In the 2 player mode one person can play as Mickey wielding magic paint and paint thinner to dynamically change the world and the second player can play as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit – Walt Disney’s first cartoon star – with the power to fly like a helicopter and use electricity to fight or friend enemies and solve challenges. Team-up and choose your path to save this forgotten world because the choices you make will alter the story and change the end of the game!”

Thanks, MTV Multiplayer.

“I can tell you I’m really excited about future projects from Junction Point. There’ll certainly be some surprises. Beyond that, you’re getting’ nothin’ outta me,” Spector told IndustryGamers in a short quote.

The Deus Ex and Epic Mickey creator also noted that the evolution of social games is “changing games in all sorts of ways, some good, some bad,” adding it would be “inevitable that social and mobile will be a big part of our gaming future.”

He continued: “On the plus side, these two game platforms or styles are growing the audience for gaming. There are so many more people interested in interactive entertainment now than there were before social and mobile came along.

“Playing games has become so commonplace the word ‘gamer’ seems almost anachronistic, if not unnecessary. On the downside, social and mobile have changed expectations of game costs – both for developers making games and consumers playing them.”

There’s more from the interview at the link.

As detailed on the US PS Blog, the $159.99 bundle contains a a black PSP-3000, a 2 GB Memory Stick PRO Duo, a copy of FIFA 2012 on UMD and a voucher to download Cars 2: The Video Game from the PlayStation Network.

The bundle will go on sale on November 15. The Avalanche-developed Cars 2 goes on sale a week earlier on November 8; it’s also available on DS, iOS, Mac, PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Speaking to the magazine for a ‘making of’ piece on Split Second, Baynes revealed that the studio based in Brighton, England saw Disney’s change of focus coming.

“We investigated whether we could maybe do a scaled down version that would fit with the new market dynamics,” Baynes told the mag. “But to do a Split Second that’s in any way constrained or scaled down, it’s not really Split Second anymore.”

Development on the game went ahead largely as planned and Split Second launched right next to another major high-octane British racer – Blur, from Liverpool-based Bizarre Creations. Split Second came out of that particular battle slightly better off, but the end result was both games failing to meet expectations.

With Disney already having indicated it had decided AAA games were too risky a business, Black Rock suffered deep job cuts several times over before finally being shuttered in July this year. Bizarre were also closed by their parent company, Activision.

There’s more from Baynes over at the EDGE website, and the full feature can be found in their latest issue, EDGE 233.

Titled the “Your Kinect Experience Tour”, it will allow the general public to try out major upcoming Kinect compatible titles including Kinect Disneyland Adventures, Kinect Sports: Season 2, Dance Central 2 and Kinect Star Wars.

Microsoft will be making heavy use of social media throughout the tour, trying to get people why try out the motion sensor to head to Facebook and other services to talk about their experiences. They’ll be able to take away photos of themselves in a game, while Wristbands with RFID barcodes on them will allow the public to send the things they see straight to their Facebook profile.

The core Kinect tour will see Microsoft visit the following locations:
- Metro Centre, Gateshead, UK – September 29th to October 23rd
- Westfield Shopping Centre, Shepherd’s Bush, London, UK – October 26th to 28th November 2011
- Clothes Show LIVE, NEC, Birmingham, UK – December 2nd to 7th

The Kinect Disneyland Adventures Tour will meanwhile follow Disney on Ice, visiting more places over a longer period of time:
- Newcastle Metro Radio Arena: Oct 7th to 9th
- Disney Inspiration Store, Oxford Street, London: Oct 21st to 27th
- London Wembley Arena: Oct 28th to 30th
- Birmingham NEC: Nov 4th to 6th
- Sheffield Arena: Nov 11th to 13th
- Nottingham Arena: Nov 18th to 20th
- Sheffield Arena: March 9th to 11th
- Birmingham NEC: March 16th to 18th
- Liverpool Echo: March 23rd to 25th

Thanks, MCV.

Gamasutra reports Disney made the redundancies on September 1, with between 15 and 20 staff let go.

A source told the site “budget issues” caused the lay-offs, which leave a team of around 170.

“Avalanche Software has completed a restructuring that resulted in the reduction of a small number of positions,” Disney confirmed.

The Salt Lake City-based Avalanche Software – no relation to the Just Cause and Renegade Ops developer – was also behind the Toy Story 3, Bolt and Chicken Little games. It was acquired by Disney in 2005.

The job cuts are just the latest casualties of Disney Interactive’s ongoing restructuring into a digitally-focused publisher, including rumoured cuts at Junction Point and closure of Propaganda.

Thanks, EDGE.

The studio was announced to be closing months ago, but did not officially close until today. There is currently no word on what the studio had been doing since Split/Second 2 was cancelled in December 2010.

Update: New information from Eurogamer points to a F2P RTS called Champions Alliance as the project Black Rock was working on just before closure. It was apparently akin to League of Legends.

Thanks, Eurogamer!

According to the marketing survey sent to D’toid by an anonymous user, several bits of tentative box art were shown and folks were asked which package made them more interested in purchasing a possible sequel.

The firm also asked for an opinion on various titles including: Epic Mickey 2: Return of the Mad Doctor, Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, Epic Mickey 2: Mystery on Mean Street, and Epic Mickey 2.

Possible gameplay details listed included optional split-screen co-op with Mickey and Oswald The Lucky Rabbit, and the formats listed for the game were Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360.

Back in January, a job listing posted for Junction Point Studios had the firm looking for applicants with shipped console experience for Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360, as well as experience programming graphics on PS3 or Xbox 360, or both.

Could the listing have been for Epic Mickey 2? We’ll send a mail and ask.

The losses come in defiance of a 27 percent increase in revenue to $251 million.

Disney once again blamed the lack of profits on the $600 million acquisition of Playdom, citing ongoing accounting costs, but said relief on the console side helped.

“The improvement at our console games business reflected higher unit sales and lower marketing costs. The increase in unit sales was driven by the performance of Lego Pirates Of The Caribbean and Cars 2 in the current quarter compared to Toy Story 3 and Split Second in the prior year.”

Fees paid to Lego Pirates of the Carribean developer Traveller’s Tales were said to have “partially offset” profits.

Disney as a whole had a better result than the Interactive division, noting increases in both revenue and profit. The Interactive division also posted a loss in its second quarter.

Thanks, Edge.

Disney already owns 50.4 percent of the company, and should the bid be accepted, not only would the firm be in control of UTV’s Bollywood films and TV shows, but control over Ignition’s development projects.

UTV has made various cuts through its gaming sector of late, with many of its studios in the US, UK, and Japan already shuttered and development on two gaming titles ceased. This is an effort on the firm’s part to move away from game development.

Disney has also minimized its core development projects, and in most recent history, shuttered studios Black Rock and Propaganda Games, while switching focus to social and causal studios Playdom and Penguin Games.

Ignition’s El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron is out in the US on August 16, and September 9 in Europe on PS3 and Xbox 360.

Disney confirmed the appointment today, close to two years after it acquired the comic giant, bringing games based on Marvel properties under Disney Interactive’s sway.

Roper has 17 years of experience in the games industry, having served as vice president of Blizzard North and chief creative officer at Cryptic Studios.

Cryptic was responsible for Champions Online, the MMORPG based on Marvel’s role playing property, and Roper’s experience there will no doubt prove invaluable as Disney embraces its future in digital publishing.

Thanks, Massively.

SystemLink turned this pair of images up in a former Black Rock staffer’s resume.

An alleged Black Rock insider said in May that Disney had cancelled pre-production on Split/Second 2 in December as part of its preparations to transition to a digital publisher.

Disney confirmed earlier this month that it would close the Pure developer.

Thanks, GameInformer.

In May, the company confirmed that it had reduced staff numbers within the studio, but kept 40 jobs. Those will now also go due to the studio’s closure.

Black Rock was also working on a secret project after Split/Second. Disney’s now confirmed it wasn’t greenlit for “further development.”

A statement from the company reads:

“Disney Interactive Studios confirms that Black Rock Studios’ current project has not been greenlit for further development, consequently the company informed employees yesterday of the intent to enter a consultation process on the proposal to close the studios.”

A source told EG that Disney was outsourcing games that Black Rock was capable of, and that it had mishandled the dev.

The news was given to staff in Brighton Town Hall yesterday.

Two studios have been formed since the earlier job cuts earlier this year: Roundcube Entertainment and ShortRound Games.

For those at Black Rock, we salute you. All the best.

According to the listing posted on Develop, the firm’s new project “is created with Unity and the role requires an in-depth understanding of free-to-play gaming and gaming in general”.

The firm also wants the game director to be “passionate about player metrics”, which suggests the game could be web-based.

Regardless, it’s good to hear the firm is hiring, considering Disney reportedly laid-off around 40 staffers at Black Rock back in May.

The actual number of redundancies was never officially confirmed.

Former staff members which were part of the recent cuts have gone on to form ShortRound Games and Roundcube Entertainment.

• Cliff Bleszinski has confirmed the Silverback mech suit appears in one of Gears of War 3′s multiplayer maps.
• Soul Calibur V lead Daishi Odashima has settled on a final design for Patroklos’ costume. Check it out.
• Gameloft’s mobile MMORPG Order & Chaos is coming to Android “soon”.
• If you can beat Ne-Yo at Child of Eden, you’ll be contributing to charity. Really!
• Powerhead Games, the indie developer of Artisan Glow, has laid off twelve staff. You can grab the company’s latest game, ASYNC Corp, from the App Store. there’s a traielr through the link.
• Apparently, Pixar spent a lot of time peering over Avalanche’s shoulders during the development of the Cars 2 game, to make sure it’s good.
• Siliconera spoke to Vanillaware about Dragon’s Crown, the PS Vita game originally intended for Dreamcast.
• Dungeons & Dragons Online Update 10 is out now. I haven’t actually looked to see what that entails.
• Square Enix is hosting an art show to celebrate Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which features work from real street artists.
• Half-Minute Hero 2 is coming to Europe in October. Yesssss.
• Capcom’s throwing another 99 cent app sale.
• Here’s an extended Ocarina of Time commercial with Robin Williams and his daughter, Zelda. It’s pretty cute.
• The PC version of DiRT 3 has been patched.
• Alien Zombie Mega Death, a spin-off of Minis hit Alien Zombie Death, is coming to PSN.
• Someone’s made a Legend of Zelda adventure in Minecraft.
• An artist is going to be locked up with no connection to the outside world besides Lord of the Rings Online. This is art, not determination to hit the level cap.
• The ESRB has outed something called Worms Crazy Golf. Oh you crazy Team 17.
• If you want, you can buy Peter Molyneux’s E3 pass, for charity. It’s signed and all.
• EA Sports will livestream NCAA Football 12 today, and you can like, interact with the developers.
• Outspark and Miniclip are getting together and makin’ babies. The first baby will be an MMO.
• Here’s the Assassin’s Creed: Revelations E3 trailer recreated in Lego. So: slow weekend, guys?
• Speaking of minifigs, Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars is coming to TV as an animated series.
• Gaze in wonder upon some ancient Super Mario Bros. gameplay footage, which was wisely abandoned.
• Avadon’s out now on iPad. It’s a 40 hour RPG with a long pedigree.

God. I need a lie down. Today’s unrelated street art.

GamesIndustry reports Nick Baynes and Ian Monaghan will serve as the new studio’s head and development director respectively.

The newly-formed company is yet to announce any projects.

Only around 30 staff remain at Block Rock, which is based in Brighton, after an estimated 100 lay-offs. Its games include Split/Second and Pure.

Black Rock suffered severe job cuts as part of Disney’s ongoing restructuring, as it transitions into digital publishing. The publisher’s first title from this initiative is Disney Universe.

Thanks, Eurogamer.

Players will get to experience levels based on animated and live-action films from the company’s various studios, including Pixar.

You’ll also be able to select from 40 contemporary costumes based from the said various movies, such as Lilo and Sitch, Alice in Wonderland, Monsters Inc and Tron Legacy, as you explore six different worlds based on Disney and Disney-Pixar movies.

Additional costumes, universes and more content will be available post-launch.

First screens and trailer of Disney Universe are below. Eurogamer has a preview through here. Game’s out this autumn for PS3, 360 and PC.

This is the case for Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned, anyway. The game was axed by Disney late last year, immediately prior to the closing of Propaganda Games.

It looks like all of the studio’s work wasn’t for naught, however, as John Vignocchi (Disney Interactive Studios development director) has tweeted, all of the music from Armada of the Damned has now popped up, along 15 tunes from the films, in the soundtrack to LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean.

So it’s not quite the Pirates game we were expecting, the blocky interpretation falling somewhat short of the action-RPG Armada was shaping up to be, but at least the game’s found a new life – of sorts – rather than being condemned to Davy Jones’ Locker.

Keep an ear out, and you can hear D’toid‘s cries of glee throughout the game, too!

While revenue for Disney Interactive Studios increased by 3%, year-on-year, bringing Q2 earnings up from $155 million to $159 million, this wasn’t enough to cancel out the massive losses in operating income. Last year, Q2 reported a $55 million loss. This year, that more than doubled to $115 million.

These losses, Disney explained to Gamasutra are largely thanks to the acquisition of developer Playdom, in a deal worth nearly $600 million.

Looking toward the future, Disney CEO Bob Iger is anticipating profitability in 2013, but explains that it is still “a work in progress”.

It told us, however, it will remain at work on an unannounced project.

“Disney Interactive Studios confirms a reduction of its workforce from its Brighton-based internal game development studio, Black Rock Studios. The studio will continue its work on its current project,” the company told us in a statement this afternoon.

Eurogamer first reported this morning that 40 jobs were at risk. Its now been said that those 40 jobs are actually safe, but a further 100 jobs are at risk. The report also claimed that Split/Second 2 was in pre-dev, but had been canned.

The lay-offs bring an ongoing streamlining process to a head.

“The inactive portion of the studio has been expecting redundancies for months, so this doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone. It’s sad that it’s come to this of course, but for many people they’ll be quite happy to take the money and go, as they’ve been sitting around doing nothing for months,” EG’s source said.

The studios is said to be at work on a “promising” title, but despite assigning a “good proportion” of the existing employees to development, Disney apparently aren’t keen to commit a larger team to the “new and risky” endeavour.

Those not involved in the new project have been unable to convince the publisher to back a second new title.

“It seems Disney have been unable to provide us with a project to work on, and our concept pitches clearly haven’t gone down well (despite there being many of them),” the source commented.

“… We had a concept week (everyone in the studio working on small teams) to try to come up with new ideas, but nothing really stuck. We had a freemium week sometime later with similar goals too.”

“Split/Second 2″ seems like an obvious choice, but Disney didn’t agree.

“After Split/Second wrapped, we started work on Split/Second 2 pre-prod which was cancelled last December due to Disney Interactive’s new management and their changing priorities (the push towards freemium etc) – Split/Second 2 didn’t really fit in with that (despite some efforts to shoehorn it in).”

Black Rock is an experienced racing developer, having previously produced Pure and worked on the MotoGP series. Split/Second was its most recent release, in May 2010, and garnered near-universal critical approval for its over the top arcade stylings.