Some higher-ups at Disney want CEO Bob Iger to push the company to have a greater presence in the gaming industry, starting with the acquisition of a company like EA, according to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg states that Iger’s deputies are interested in seeing Disney move from mostly being a licensee to becoming a full-on “gaming giant.” However, the CEO has been noncommittal when it comes to these potential plans. Even if Disney does push farther into the industry, it’s not clear if they would go after EA, specifically, or another company entirely. In other words, don’t expect Disney to start cranking out Battlefield games any time soon.
Still, it’s interesting to hear that Disney executives are showing some desire to have a more prominent presence in games. For years, the company has licensed out properties like Marvel and Star Wars to other publishers, leaving them to handle the development of the resulting products. Deals like this have resulted in games like Marvel’s Avengers from Square Enix, Star Wars: Battlefront 1 and 2 from EA, and more recently, the yet-to-release Star Wars: Outlaws from Ubisoft. EA, which saw a company-wide reorganization in June of this year, also oversees Respawn Entertainment and its hit Star Wars Jedi series.
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Disney already has a notable relationship with a number of other major players in the gaming space, but it might be most tightly connected to EA. In addition to the aforementioned titles, the two entities worked together to create Star Wars: Squadrons, too, with Respawn also said to be working on a first-person shooter Star Wars adventure. There is also a trio of EA-developed Marvel games on the way that will center on characters like Iron Man and Black Panther. Again, nothing is confirmed yet, but if EA is the company being floated around, who knows where Disney’s ambitions could take it.
