Disney aims for social and mobile games, leaves consoles in the dust

Don't expect to see Mickey on Xbox anytime soon. It looks like Disney is smartening up to its own $740 million buy of Playdom earlier this summer in saying to GamesIndustry.biz that it plans to invest less in console gaming. "We've seen a pretty big shift in games from console to what I'll call multiplatform, everything from mobile apps to social networking games, and by putting John Pleasants in to run games, not only will be the focus on turning those businesses into profitability, but diversifying our presence in the business," said Disney CEO Bob Iger to GamesIndustry.biz.

In other words, Disney is going to focus more on Playdom's potential than, say, Warren Spector and Epic Mickey's. Now, this isn't to say that we'll never see a Disney game on consoles again--we'll still have our licensed Pixar games. In all seriousness, Disney knows better than to ignore an entire market, but I wouldn't expect too many more original ideas based on Disney intellectual property after Epic Mickey releases. We're unsure as to what this might mean for Disney-owned console studios like UK-based Black Rock and Warren Spector's Junction Point, but we can probably guess what it will mean elsewhere.

More Facebook and mobile games with Disney characters all over them. We saw some pretty big hints pointing toward what Disney might be up to in Social City earlier this fall. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that a Disney-branded Facebook game is on the way. You can bet your City Bucks Disney didn't buy Playdom or Tapulous just to throw nifty little items into some of their existing games.

What do you think will come of Disney's new focus on social games? What Disney IP would you like to see Playdom or Tapulous handle first? Speculate away in the comments. Add Comment.