By doing everything under one roof – publishing, developing, marketing – Disney can maximize its resources and profit. Having its own development studios also allows for Buena Vista to create its own original game product, something that can be very lucrative if the title turns out to be hit.
Chicken Little (the game is out Tuesday), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (Nov. 15), and Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (already on shelves) are Buena Vista’s first multi-platform releases as publisher.
Disney has Harry Potter-like hopes for the Narnia movie, out Dec. 9. That optimism extends to the video game, given that the books by C.S. Lewis have sold more than 80 million copies.
Now Disney wants to mine the rest of its content for gaming. That includes movies made by Touchstone and Miramax plus its TV programming. For example, the hit show Lost, aired on Disney’s ABC, seems tailor-made for a video game.
“There’s a lot of different content coming out of the Walt Disney Company in movies that appeals to various age groups,” said Liem.