https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-10-10/has-bog-iger-lost-the-magic-inside-disney-ceo-s-billion-dollar-crisis?embedded-checkout=true
Iger's deputies are pushing him to consider a bolder transformation of Disney from gaming licensee to gaming giant through, say, an acquisition of...
I can see Disney wanting back in now that MTX is socially acceptable. Milking the same IP for decades is exactly their MO.
They could then just be a publisher for their own IP and outsource development work. Disney gets to own all copyrights and revenue and pick an independent studio most suited for each game. Buying something like EA for around a similar or higher price than Microsoft spends for Activision is just stupid.
IIRC, Lucasarts had a massive legacy reputation as a publisher, but toward the end of its life, the public perception of Lucasarts had soured after the cancellation of Star Wars Battlefront 3. According to the developer Free Radical, Lucasarts cancelled the game, didn't pay the developer for creating a "99% finished" game, the developer went bankrupt, and then all the assets fell into Lucasarts's hands since it was their IP. These assets were then repurposed to create Renegade Squadron for the PSP.
Didn't Disney drop out of gaming during Iger's first run as CEO? He seemed pretty disinterested in gaming outside of licensing IPs. Then again his opinions may have changed over the years. Not sure how I feel about EA being bought up by Disney. On the one hand, Disney gets one step closer to being an all-consuming pop culture monopoly. On the other hand, at least Disney doesn't have a console or platform to make EA games exclusive to. Well at least not yet.