Disney Expanding Video Game Investment

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

15 Jun 2007 08:29 AM

Video games are an expanding market that generates billions of dollars in revenue. The Walt Disney Company announced that they plan to triple the amount of money they invest in the development of new video games. The market is a wealth of opportunity for the entertainment giant and they have long produced video game titles in companionship to their feature film releases from Meet the Robinsons to Pirates of the Caribbean and more.

Not Just Based On Movies

Their development scheme will seek to launch a multimedia platform whether it starts out as a product, a film or a game. Similar to the impact of their Disney Fairies line although the feature film Tinkerbell has yet to be released.

In 2006, Disney spent about $100 million on their gave development. They plan to spend $130 million for 2007. In the next five years, they will up their spending to $350 million a year. Their research and development will focus on consoles and handheld games (such as XBox and Nintendo DS).

According to Screen Digest, the global gaming software market will be generating $21.3 billion annually by 2009 and Disney really wants in on that business model. The fastest growing area of the gaming market remains the massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMPORG). Screen Digest statistics report that that subscription revenues for MMPORGs will jump from $875 million in 2006 to a projected $1.4 billion in 2009 - that's just for subscriptions, that's not for purchasing the software that can cost anywhere from $45 to $55 dollars.

Pirates MMPORG

Disney is already released a Pirates of the Caribbean console game that is a hit in Europe. There are also plans to launch an online Pirates game first in the U.S. then expanding it to the Unite Kingdom. Will the MMPORG do well? That's anyone's guess, Blizzard's World of Warcraft really has a corner on the market, but the popularity of Pirates is unmistakable.

What do you think of Disney's video game plans?

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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