Disney's virtual pixie dust
Posted Feb 20th 2008 2:39PM by Steven Mallas
Filed under: Press releases, Microsoft (MSFT), Walt Disney (DIS), Sony Corp ADR (SNE)
Anyone who follows Disney (NYSE: DIS) knows that the media conglomerate is serious about videogames -- it should be, considering that consoles from Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY), Sony (NYSE: SNE), and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) are currently cooking in the industry's new cycle. The company has been increasing its investments in this area, and it will continue to do so; making games for Nintendo's DS hand-held system, as well as other platforms, has become a priority. But Disney is also serious about the synthesis of virtual worlds -- you know, the kind of online gaming platforms that can suck a person's life away due to their addictive, immersive scope.
Well, the powers that be at the Mouse have decided that a dedicated team of professionals is needed to ensure a proper presence in the virtual-world space. According to a press release, Disney has created Disney Online Studios for the express purpose of programming new online entertainment platforms. It seems that the company wants to leverage the promise of social networking -- hope you're not too sick of that buzz phrase -- by creating worlds that allow gamers to interact with each other via community tools in addition to playing around in he worlds themselves. Right now, Disney operates Toontown, and it plans on developing immersive online environments for the company's Fairies and Cars franchises. Pirates of the Caribbean has also been given the online treatment; and let's not forget the acquisition of the popular Club Penguin destination.
It's all a part of CEO Bob Iger's mantra: develop content, turn it into a franchise brand, and distribute it across all of the company's platforms. Then again, I think his predecessor Michael Eisner used to say stuff along those lines as well. At any rate, I look forward to seeing how Disney fares with its new development team. One long-term issue that Disney faces with its content is the phenomenon of "age compression" -- the theory that kids grow out of kids' things at earlier and earlier ages. The Disney characters will always be icons, though, and I think courting the family market with virtual worlds is a justifiable investment experiment.
Disclosure: Steven Mallas owns shares in Disney, and may buy Microsoft after this post.
Tags: Club Penguin, ClubPenguin, Disney Fairies, DisneyFairies, featured, inthenews, Pirates of the Caribbean, PiratesOfTheCaribbean, Toontown, virtual world, VirtualWorld, Walt Disney, WaltDisney
Posted Feb 20th 2008 2:39PM by Steven Mallas
Filed under: Press releases, Microsoft (MSFT), Walt Disney (DIS), Sony Corp ADR (SNE)
Anyone who follows Disney (NYSE: DIS) knows that the media conglomerate is serious about videogames -- it should be, considering that consoles from Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY), Sony (NYSE: SNE), and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) are currently cooking in the industry's new cycle. The company has been increasing its investments in this area, and it will continue to do so; making games for Nintendo's DS hand-held system, as well as other platforms, has become a priority. But Disney is also serious about the synthesis of virtual worlds -- you know, the kind of online gaming platforms that can suck a person's life away due to their addictive, immersive scope.
Well, the powers that be at the Mouse have decided that a dedicated team of professionals is needed to ensure a proper presence in the virtual-world space. According to a press release, Disney has created Disney Online Studios for the express purpose of programming new online entertainment platforms. It seems that the company wants to leverage the promise of social networking -- hope you're not too sick of that buzz phrase -- by creating worlds that allow gamers to interact with each other via community tools in addition to playing around in he worlds themselves. Right now, Disney operates Toontown, and it plans on developing immersive online environments for the company's Fairies and Cars franchises. Pirates of the Caribbean has also been given the online treatment; and let's not forget the acquisition of the popular Club Penguin destination.
It's all a part of CEO Bob Iger's mantra: develop content, turn it into a franchise brand, and distribute it across all of the company's platforms. Then again, I think his predecessor Michael Eisner used to say stuff along those lines as well. At any rate, I look forward to seeing how Disney fares with its new development team. One long-term issue that Disney faces with its content is the phenomenon of "age compression" -- the theory that kids grow out of kids' things at earlier and earlier ages. The Disney characters will always be icons, though, and I think courting the family market with virtual worlds is a justifiable investment experiment.
Disclosure: Steven Mallas owns shares in Disney, and may buy Microsoft after this post.
Tags: Club Penguin, ClubPenguin, Disney Fairies, DisneyFairies, featured, inthenews, Pirates of the Caribbean, PiratesOfTheCaribbean, Toontown, virtual world, VirtualWorld, Walt Disney, WaltDisney