Although acquired with the 20th Century Fox purchase earlier this year, the Walt Disney Company has decided to not retain the FoxNext mobile-game business, according to Bloomberg.
What’s Happening:
- When the Walt Disney Company acquired 20th Century Fox earlier this year, they also acquired FoxNext, a video-game business, as one of the assets of the company.
- Founded two years ago, FoxNext makes free-to-play mobile games around entertainment properties, such as the hit game Marvel Strike Force. The also have games planned based around Avatar and Aliens.
- Free-to-Play titles make money by offering gamers to buy things in the game, and are among the fastest growing areas in the video game industry. Marvel Strike Force made more that $150 million in its first year.
- Zynga Inc. and Jam City Inc (who earlier announced a game based on Frozen) are two other companies that have been acquiring entertainment licenses and design studios.
- According to Bloomberg, Senior Disney executives had discussed keeping the company with CEO Bob Iger saying that he no longer wants to be in the business of making video games. No comment has been made by the Walt Disney Company at this time.
- In 2016, Disney shut down the popular Disney Infinity line of games and toys as well as Club Penguin, a popular online game. Since then, Disney has been mostly licensing its characters and brands to game studios and developers, like the Star Wars-based game that Electronic Arts is releasing in November.
- A piece of Draftkings, Inc., a popular online sports betting site, was also acquired in the deal with Iger commenting that he doesn’t want to be in the business of gambling either, according to Bloomberg.
What They’re Saying:
- Bob Iger, CEO The Walt Disney Company: “We’ve just decided that the best place for us to be in that space is licensing and not publishing.”