Alex Seropian, the founder of Bungie Software and co-creator of the "Halo" franchise has joined the company to oversee creative development across Disney’s in-house video game development teams.Disney's most successful serious gaming project was the Kingdom Hearts games for the PlayStation 2, but that was a collaboration with major Japanese game developer Square-Enix. Disney's clearly looking to leverage its brand into the gamer market with some serious firepower, and not just crappy games based on Disney movies and TV shows. Alex Seropian definitely gives them the chops to start making a serious attempt at a gaming studio.
"We're really trying to be a magnet in this industry for talent, as we are in so many other parts of the entertainment world," says Graham Hopper, executive vice president and general manager of Disney Interactive Studios. "Having someone of Alex's caliber join us is a tribute to the great people we have here already."Disney is in the midst of tripling its investment in video games. The studio has 1,200 employees working on games, which is notably bigger than Microsoft's internal game-building team.
As a publisher, though, the company has been firmly stuck in a mid-level position, lacking a breakout hit beyond the studio's core products (such as "Hannah Montana," which come with a built-in audience).
The addition of Seropian (as well as 2007's recruitment of industry veteran Warren Spector) helps put Disney on the radar of core gamers, which could help it expand its gaming interests.
We'll see how this turns out.
Say what you like about Disney, but you have to admit that for the most part, it's pretty brilliant and has pretty brilliant subsidiaries.
ReplyDeleteIf Disney puts out some original games instead of just games based off of movies, I think it might do well.