Disney says Epic Mickey has potential to achieve "Nintendo levels"

Disney executive VP and general manager Graham Hopper has said that the decision to make Warren Spector's Epic Mickey into a Wii-exclusive boiled down to potential.

Speaking to Gamasutra, Hopper says that Disney is approaching things from a Nintendo standpoint with the title.

"I think we've tried to learn from the things Nintendo does well," he said. "One of the things that Nintendo does on their own platforms is they give their projects the time and appropriate resources to be successful, and they iterate until they get there. And I think we're doing the same with Epic Mickey, giving it the time and resources to be successful.

"I'll tell you that I don't think all other third parties are approaching the Wii in the same way. If there's a third-party game that I think has potential to be as successful on the Wii to Nintendo levels, I'd like to think it's Disney Epic Mickey. We're following the same playbook."

"This has been a conscious approach, to try to withhold Mickey from the marketplace a little bit. I didn't feel that we've been doing him justice in the games business. Simply using him as an icon or an avatar in a game really doesn't do a whole lot for us, and it doesn't agree with the value of who Mickey is as a character."

"We came up with the idea a few years back for Epic Mickey, and have been assembling the right creative team. It took us a while to find the right creative team and visionary to put behind it. Warren Spector has taken that idea and really evolved it.

"I think it'll be an awesome game."

Back in October, Warren Spector said that the game was originally slated for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 before heading to Wii in 2008.

It was also revealed that the game could hit other platforms in the future.