Disney has just expressed serious interest in making original video games about their most popular franchises.
In Las Vegas at the DICE summit, Sean Shoptaw, senior VP of games and interactive experiences at Disney, spoke in front of a room full of game developers. In his speech, Shoptaw invited developers to tell original stories with their most popular franchises in video games.
“I’m here for one specific reason: to empower you to do really unique things with our [catalog]. We want to tap into the power of creatives across the industry,” Shoptaw announced.
Shoptaw wants more games like Marvel’s Spider-Man and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, titles that told original stories using Disney properties. He encourages developers to not just adapt but to reimagine their most popular franchises.
Marvel and Star Wars aren’t Disney’s only popular franchises, however. Thanks to the company’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox, there is a wealth of movies and shows to adapt. It might not be too long until we are seeing entirely original stories in Avatar and The Simpsons video games.
Disney, of course, has partnered with studios before to make video games. EA has worked on a multitude of Star Wars video games. Square Enix has developed the Kingdom Hearts series for quite a while now. However, opening Disney’s franchises to a multitude of developers is exciting stuff. Shoptaw has invited developers to “come and play” with Disney series and films. So, hopefully, some will take him up on his offer!
Disney has been on top of the world, making billions on their properties. Disney+ has had massive success in the competitive streaming market, with a catalog of showstopping (pun intended) series. And it seems that the company is ready to break into the gaming market, making a couple more billion dollars in the process.
Are you excited to see more Disney video games? Is there any particular game you want to see? Let us know in the comments below!
