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Bungie Studios founder leaves Disney Interactive

Eddie Makuch
By Eddie Makuch, News Editor

Instrumental Halo developer Alex Seropian departs post as core games manager at House of Mouse, Ex-Blizzard VP to fill role; Disney game division revenue down 20 percent.

Bungie Studios founder Alex Seropian has left Disney Interactive, and former Blizzard vice president Bill Roper has filled his place, the House of Mouse has confirmed with GameSpot.

Seropian has left Disney; his destination is unknown.

Seropian has left Disney; his destination is unknown.

A statement provided to GameSpot from Disney confirms Seropian's departure from the media giant's game division and notes Roper will be taking over the role. Roper had served as vice president of the Marvel franchise at Disney since June 2011.

As for Seropian, he founded Bungie Studios in 1991 and was instrumental in the development of Halo: Combat Evolved, the first entry in the now-mammoth shooter series. Seropian later left Bungie and formed Wideload games in 2004, which Disney purchased in 2009.

With that acquisition, Seropian was promoted to senior vice president and general manager of core games at Disney Interactive, the position he has now departed from. There is no indication as to where Seropian is headed in the future.

As for Disney's gaming business as a whole, the company recently reported its first quarter financial results, noting that for the period ended December 31, 2011, revenues were down 20 percent to $279 million.

Disney attributed the lower results to fewer marquee console game properties available, compared to this time last year when Epic Mickey helped drive revenues for the publisher. Additionally, the company said its shift from console games to social titles remains ongoing.

Eddie Makuch
By Eddie Makuch, News Editor

Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.

8 comments
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cinderkid
cinderkid

How the hell does Bill Roper manage to get all these deals?

Me_Ann
Me_Ann

I bet deep inside Roper regrets leaving Blizzard. And just like every company he has been with the past several years, I wont be surprised if he will leave Disney sooner than later.

Maxx_the_Slash
Maxx_the_Slash

I hope he was allowed to take the Stubbs the Zombie license with him. We need a new game in the series and Disney wont let it happen.

Richardthe3rd
Richardthe3rd

Wow. They put Bill Roper in that position? Did they play, or see the disaster that was Hellgate: London? I will never forgive that fat (expletive deleted) for that unmitigated disaster.

Barighm
Barighm

Sounds like this guy enjoys founding studios and developing them into something big. Hopefully his next studio remains independent. Quite a few non-AAA indie studios popping up these days and most of them are proving you don't need a huge budget to make a good game. Keep it up!

Decessus
Decessus

I think Seropian will be better off in the long run. Disney has never seemed like a developer that cared much about making quality video games. They simply saw video games as a means to market their movies and cartoon characters.

gatsbythepig
gatsbythepig

With a resume like that, you know he'll be making a metric ton of money at his next position.

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