Epic Mickey 2 PC, Mac confirmed

Epic Mickey 2 will launch on PC and Mac, developer Junction Point has confirmed.

The two versions of the game join Epic Mickey 2's expanding roster of launch platforms, which currently stands at six.

Epic Mickey launched exclusively on Wii. The sequel launches on Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC and Mac. A 3DS game, which works differently than the other versions, is also in the works.

Junction Point boss Warren Spector declined to offer any detail on the PC, Mac or 3DS versions when quizzed by Eurogamer at a preview event in London this morning, but he did say around 800 people were working on the project in a new "virtual team" approach.

"It's pretty crazy," he admitted. "There's a lot of work that goes into it. There are a couple of ways you can approach it. You can either build a studio that has 700 people, which I desperately don't want to do, and didn't and don't and won't, okay? Or you can find partners around the world.

"We've taken a very interesting development approach. My studio director Paul Weaver came up with a way of building a virtual team all around the world. So we have people working in Leamington in the UK, in Bulgaria, China, Canada, California, Utah. We have an enormous virtual team.

"It's not outsourcing. I've got to be clear about that. It's not that we said, okay, there are a bunch of artists in Shanghai, go build us barrels and trees. We have people in the UK actually building levels for us, under our direction. We talk to them every day. We drive all the creative, but we have an enormous virtual team."

Spector's mention of a Shanghai is in reference to a company called Virtuos. The 3DS version, called Power of Illusion, is made by Henry Hatsworth developer Dreamrift. The UK team is Blitz Games, founded and run by the Oliver twins. Blitz is making the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions.

"We had Wii expertise," Spector explained. "Blitz has great next-gen expertise. We've worked with them before. We've known them for years. Their design aesthetic is similar to ours."

Spector expects big things from Blitz, maker of Puss in Boots and Yoostar 2. "Not to put to fine a point on it, I don't know why they don't rule the world," he said. "They're an amazing bunch of talented, experienced developers. I want to see them get out there and do something amazing and original. I'm hoping I can help them do that. They're great to work with.

"We'll see if it works. It's interesting. I've never worked this way before. We're just one big, big team."

The eye-watering 700 figure comes from adding the 160 who work at Junction Point, based in Austin, Texas, and all the other developers around the world, to those in marketing, publishing and support, and testers, voice talent, people at Disney Character Voice, who work with the actors to record voice over, and staff working on cinematics and storyboarding. If you include the 3DS version, it's "probably 800 people".

"We do a lot of phone calls at very odd times, and a lot of Skype-ing, and a lot of email and a lot of transferring of incredibly large files back and forth, that's for sure.

"When I started in this business it was me sitting in front of a screen typing. It's pretty crazy."

The announcement of Epic Mickey 2 comes as no surprise - Epic Mickey was the best-selling single platform release in Disney's history. It's due out this September.