Disney to invest more in video game development

In its aim to build up Disney Interactive Studios, Disney will continue “ramping up” its games focus and will spend a significant amount of funds on games development, Disney CFO Tom Staggs announced. This was brought on by the success of its first UK number one rating and the success of the game adaptation of the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Disney now wants to do more than churn out movie-and-game tie-ins.

The company is planning to burn US$ 130 million toward games development for this year – definitely a big jump from US$ 100 million from last year. However, Staggs is planning to triple the budget to US$ 350 million annually. He further explains:

We are ramping up our investment in video games. It is a market where there is real opportunity. Over the next five years or so we are ramping up to about a pace of $350 million per year in video game investment, principally consoles and handhelds…We are early on in the process of developing a video gaming capability, and as a developer and publisher our activities have been very limited.

Its game-related activities may be limited right now, but with the kind of spending money, the fact that it has already acquired Climax Racing, and the announcement that Disney is already planning a Pirates of the Caribbean-themed MMO this year, we’ll definitely see Disney in the games business more often in the near future.

In its aim to build up Disney Interactive Studios, Disney will continue “ramping up” its games focus and will spend a significant amount of funds on games development, Disney CFO Tom Staggs announced. This was brought on by the success of its first UK number one rating and the success of the game adaptation of the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Disney now wants to do more than churn out movie-and-game tie-ins.

The company is planning to burn US$ 130 million toward games development for this year – definitely a big jump from US$ 100 million from last year. However, Staggs is planning to triple the budget to US$ 350 million annually. He further explains:

We are ramping up our investment in video games. It is a market where there is real opportunity. Over the next five years or so we are ramping up to about a pace of $350 million per year in video game investment, principally consoles and handhelds…We are early on in the process of developing a video gaming capability, and as a developer and publisher our activities have been very limited.

Its game-related activities may be limited right now, but with the kind of spending money, the fact that it has already acquired Climax Racing, and the announcement that Disney is already planning a Pirates of the Caribbean-themed MMO this year, we’ll definitely see Disney in the games business more often in the near future.