Company's Interactive arm grows revenue 58 percent to $349 million, citing success of Junction Point's Wii title, Toy Story 3.
After announcing last year that it would be backing off from the high-end console market, Disney has set about changing the gaming outlook within its Interactive division. That process has resulted in the purchase of casual-gaming network Playdom for more than half a billion dollars, the closure of Tron: Evolution studio Propaganda Games, and layoffs within Disney Interactive Media Group and Epic Mickey outfit Junction Point Studios.
That change in direction looks to be having a positive impact on Disney Interactive's earnings. As part of The Walt Disney Company's first-quarter earnings report today, the multinational conglomerate said that its Interactive Media division grew revenue by 58 percent to $349 million. However, losses mounted to $13 million, due in large part to expenses related to the acquisition of Playdom.
Notably, Disney said that it actually experienced gains in console game sales. The company said it saw a "strong performance" from Epic Mickey and Toy Story 3, which outperformed last year's releases that included Sing It Pop Hits and Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure. According to the LA Times, Epic Mickey's first-month sales tallied more than 1.3 million units, even if critics responded tepidly to the title.
The Disney Group as a whole performed extremely well during the quarter ended January 1, 2011. Company-wide revenues rose 10 percent to $10.7 billion, while net income rocketed up 54 percent to $1.3 billion.
Tom Magrino has covered the games industry since 2006. He's been compared to Steve Martin by Ozzy Osbourne and Daniel Craig by Tim Schafer. His voice, heard largely on GameSpot's podcast, recalls that of Kermit the Frog. It ain't easy bein' Magreen.
@Moloch121 Not as evil as approving Kingdom Hearts games. There were a few games in the series I though that wasn't as good but, deep down there all dead inside at Disney. Walt is hooked up to a machine to suck out all of there souls. For one day he will arise and maybe just maybe kill us all. Just as he did on Robot Chicken but, I imagine to be a lot more Diabolical. LMAO!
I'm glad Epic Mickey did well. While it wasn't awesome, it certainly wasn't terrible either. I heard it was planned to be a trilogy. I hope that's still the case. They could fix all the problems for the sequel and move forward in the timeline to include more interesting Disney characters.
If only those games were good...but, and I hate to say it from a gamer standpoint, good for them. The games were successful, and more people got to keep their jobs, ya know? Maybe they'll use this success to make better games in the future...
There are plenty of good games that don't get great sales. Sadly, good quality games aren't a garantee of good sales. Because nowadays, 10 years old, and grand parents take a good portion of the gaming comunity thanks to the progress done by the Wii on the casual market (/sarcasm). Which means, the license, and the ads of the game play a more important part than it's quality for those players. The quality is more something core gamer are looking for and we are getting to be a rare bunch.
Imagine how much more they could have made if Epic Disney was a better game! :o *snickers*
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