Disney Closing the Money Bin for Console Development

[Roboto]

SO the heavyweights are shifting back to the PC market after all...

...in the worst possible way.

 

[anthony87]

If this affects Kingdom Hearts I'm gonna be pissed.

 

[warfjm]

What did they expect? Make crappy games, get crappy returns.

I am a little sad that they're giving up instead of changing their approach.

I don't mind movie/merchandise games... if they're stand-alone. A new story. Something that expands the world. Not just a re-tread of what we already know.

I was going to say the same thing and I'm surprised nobody else mentioned it too. What do you expect to get when you make crappy games? Kingdom Hearts is the only exception to this rule.

Back during the 8-bit and 16-bit era, it used to be the rule that you could launch any game with a recently released movie title and the game would fly off the store shelves no matter how bad the game was. This being that right around Christmas time, parents who didn't know any better, looking for a game for their kids was a hard thing to do and the ESRB wasn't around then. It was EASY to pick up a movie based game without knowing if it was going to be crappy or good. If my kids liked the movie, then surely they will like this game.

That type of marketing doesn't fly today. Kids in the 8-bit and 16-bit era are now grown up and have kids of their own. They remember that most movie based games ARE crap and have been crap for quite some time. There are exceptions to the rule obviously (Goldeneye being one of them) but in the history of video games, the majority of movie based games are crap.

I will NEVER, repeat, NEVER buy a movie based game for my kid unless I know it is a quality game.

Disney, release better games and you will get better returns. It's that simple. IT'S NOT THE CONSOLE MARKET THAT'S THE PROBLEM.

 

[nolongerhere]

There isn't much money to make in video-games anymore, period.

Only a very small percentage of big name games make large amounts of money.

There's a difference between making large amounts of money and making a decent profit. Perhaps people should stop expecting to hit the back of the net with the first game in a new series.

What games has Disney actually published or developed recently though? I didn't even know they were publishers.

Well, I know they did Split Second and Pure, but I'm not sure about any others.

 

[Jkudo]

i wonder how this will effect Marvel games, like the upcoming Xmen game

Oh God.......
I still have some insane fantasy that i will get to play one more good marvel game...

 

[mjc0961]

Gee Disney. You make movie tie in games for kids (meaning even if they aren't crap, most people aren't going to buy them because they are still movie tie in games), crappy racing games like Split/Second, and crappy RPGs like Kingdom Hearts (hey look I can mash the cross button for an entire game yay so fun but not really!).

Maybe the problem isn't the console market. Maybe it's the Disney game development team making bad games all the time.

 

[Living Contradiction]

HOW much?! They lost half a bloody billion dollars in two years??

I went to the Disney Interactive website to see where this five hundred million went and found eighty-one games for sale with twenty-one more in the pipe. Eleven are not derived from their TV and movie IPs. Three tie into an MMO that Disney runs.

MMOs bleed money worse than haemophiliacs bleed blood. Ninety percent of the games are based on movies and television that aim at the three to thirteen year old age range and that are, for the most part, pretty frigging awful.

Okay, I can see where the money went. Close the MMO, quit making teeny-bopper versions of karaoke, and stop bitching, Disney.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

If this means the biggest producer of cheap movie tie-in games will stop producing cheap movie tie-in games, I'm on board.

Actually that honor might go to Dreamworks at this point; I'm not sure. One of the two biggest producers then.