Disneyis one of the irrefutable giants of the entertainment industry. It’s been going strong creating everything from animated movies, to TV, to theme parks for many decades, cementing itself as an important producer of entertainment worldwide. In spite of all its other successful works,Disneyhas a bit of a weird relationship with video games. It hasn’t really released anything through Disney Interactive that’s made a splash in the last few years. Instead, it seems like Disney has been focusing its creative ventures on new movies, as well as its highly successful streaming platform Disney+.
It’s understandable that Disney has mostly wanted to stick to its strengths when it’s spent the last several years acquiring huge movie properties likethe Marvel Cinematic UniverseandStar Wars.However, now that those works have stabilized and proved themselves successful alongside Disney+, it’s time for Disney to do something else. Now is a great time for Disney to invest in the video game market again and push for games based on some of its oldest and most precious properties. Game technology is rapidly improving with the help of new consoles, and Disney is far from short on resources to invest in development. It ought to give video games another chance.
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Disney’s Video Game Legacy
Disney has certainly put some work into the video game industry previously. In the 1990s and early 2000s, it loved making games starring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, and all their friends. Its production schedule has slowed down a lot, though, even if it had some successes. For instance, action-adventure platformerEpic Mickeywas met positively and garnered a cult following in spite of its flaws, and it was definitely interesting as a new take on Mickey Mouse. Disney also worked onthe sandboxDisney Infinitywith Avalanche Softwarefor many years, and critics generally agreed thatDisney Infinityand its follow-ups were solid.
Since then, the main thing Disney has to show for itself in terms of video games isKingdom Hearts.WhileKingdom Heartsis still going strongwith some successful recent entries, Disney really doesn’t have much to do with the franchise. It’s mostly just allowing Square Enix to work with Disney properties like Mickey Mouse, many Disney-Pixar movies, and so on. Disney has left a void of original Disney video games, and the longer it goes without re-entering the industry, the more potential Disney loses. Even so, there’s still enough opportunity for it to return to the industry, potentially giving Disney Interactive a new lease on life with bold new games.
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Plenty of Material
Disney has more properties to turn into video games than ever. It could go with a safe choice and make a game starring Mickey or Donald Duck, capitalizing on those classic characters' star power to draw in fans. It could try something a little more recent and play into the seeming rise ofpirate games likeSkull and Bonesby revampingPirates of the Caribbean.It could collaborate with Pixar to make bold new games that are more than video game adaptations with movies. It might even decide to take the Marvel andStar Warsproperties and internally develop that can stand up to recent games likeStar Wars Jedi: FallenOrder andMarvel’s Avengers.
The reason Disney isn’t making very many video games lately clearly isn’t because it’s short on inspiration or motive. It just hasn’t been prioritizing video games the way it once did. It’s come far enough withprojects like Disney+to pivot back into the game industry. The PS5 and Xbox Series X are still very new consoles, so Disney has the opportunity to get a fresh start by making games for a new console generation. Disney is no small company, so frankly, it’s surprising to see that it isn’t trying to broaden its horizons into gaming once again. Maybe someday soon Disney will realize how much it has to gain by recapturing its former video game glory.
