Warren Spector: “You Don’t Have To Do What Everybody Else Is Doing To Be Successful”

During a recent interview with IGN, Junction Point Studios’ Warren Spector mentioned that Pixar never intends to make movies that target a certain demographic or a specific audience, which inspires Spector to do the same with video games. Spector thinks that there are too many violent games, which are currently popular because consumers constantly demand them.

Spector argues that a developer’s game can be successful, even if it is different from the majority of games on the market. Spector has worked on over 20 video games, and Epic Mickey for Wii is his most successful game to date.

“I was really inspired by something that John Lasseter said the first time that I met him. I was talking about this game [Epic Mickey 2], I was presenting the game to him, I mean, he’s the creative director for Disney, and he said, ‘At Pixar we make movies for everyone. We never think about target demographics, we never think about specific audience.’ I’ve always made games for myself, you know? I’ve never, ever, ever thought about, ‘Who is my target demographic?’ But when he said that I realised that I had never actually thought about making a game for everyone… Why do we have to make games that only teenage boys like, or 20-something males like, or tween girls like?”

“But there is great joy in doing things that are different and I make that point to the people on my team all the time. I’m so proud of what we’re doing here because we’re flying in the face of so many expectations, and being successful at it. Make no mistake about it; Disney Epic Mickey was by far the most successful game I’ve ever worked on, in terms of sales. By far. You don’t have to do what everybody else is doing to be successful.”