According to a report from Bloomberg, Disney is reportedly considering the acquisition of a game distribution company, one of which is Electronic Arts (EA), following a discussion among company executives regarding the company’s business direction. One Disney executive, Bob Iger, suggested transforming the business from being a mere game distributor to becoming a publisher themselves. One potential path is acquiring EA, although Iger has not made any final decisions yet.
Last year, reports emerged that EA had discussions with Disney on a potential acquisition, involving NBCUniversal, Amazon, and Apple. However, negotiations with NBCUniversal ultimately fell through.
Previously, Disney had been a game distributor until 2016, when the company shuttered its game studio and discontinued the Disney Infinity game. They transitioned their business model to licensing game development to various companies instead.
The latest games that Disney has licensed include Return to Monkey Island, Disney Illusion Island, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. Upcoming games set to release soon include Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Spider-Man 2, Star Wars: Outlaws, and an Indiana Jones game developed by Machine Games (known for Wolfenstein).
In recent years, Disney has expressed a strong desire to collaborate with studios of all sizes to expand their own franchises in the gaming industry. Disney has emphasized that there are no boundaries to using their intellectual property (IP) to develop games for indie developers.
TLDR: Disney is reportedly considering acquiring a game distribution company, such as Electronic Arts (EA), as they explore new business directions. Previous negotiations with NBCUniversal failed. Disney shifted from being a game distributor to licensing game development. They have recently licensed games like Return to Monkey Island and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, with upcoming titles including Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Spider-Man 2. Disney remains open to collaborating with studios of all sizes and using their IP to develop games for indie developers. (Word count: 271)
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