Disney Interactive Studios

Disney Interactive Studios, Inc.

Type	Subsidiary of Disney
Industry	Interactive entertainment
Founded	1988 as Walt Disney Computer Software 1995 as Disney Interactive 2003 as Buena Vista Games, Inc. 2007 as Disney Interactive Studios
Headquarters	Glendale, California, USA
Products	The Chronicles of Narnia Turok (2008) Spectrobes Split/Second
Owner(s)	The Walt Disney Company
Parent	Disney Interactive Media Group
Website	Disney Interactive Studios Homepage

Disney Interactive Studios, Inc. (initially Walt Disney Computer Software, later Disney Interactive and Buena Vista Games, Inc.), is a Worldwide American video game company. It self-publishes and distributes multi-platform video games and interactive entertainment worldwide.

History

Disney Interactive (1995-2003)

In its early period,^[when?] Disney Interactive often worked as a developer rather than a publisher (though it also marketed games on its own for select platforms), establishing development/publishing alliances with interactive-gaming industry leaders such as Sony Computer Entertainment, Nintendo, Activision, Capcom (the most allianced), Konami, Square-Enix and Ubisoft. Disney Interactive dealt with mass-market, global development, publishing and distribution of interactive entertainment software based on its intellectual property (including Disney characters and other franchises).

Buena Vista Games (2003-2007)

To diversify its portfolio, the company re-established itself as Buena Vista Games and divided productions across two publishing labels -- Buena Vista Interactive developed titles across multiple platforms for creative content from the businesses within The Walt Disney Company, and Disney Interactive marketed and distributed children's entertainment and learning software. Buena Vista Games is probably best known for the Kingdom Hearts series along with Japanese developer Square Enix.

Disney Interactive Studios (2007-present)

In 2007, The Walt Disney Company re-merged its productions under the name Disney Interactive Studios. The studio publishes both Disney and non-Disney branded video games for all platforms worldwide, with titles that feature its consumer brands including Disney, ABC, ESPN, Touchstone (which is used as a label for Disney Interactive), and Disney/Pixar. The studio has selectively licensed Disney intellectual property to other video game publishers such as Activision and THQ.

In June 2008, Disney Interactive Studios was spun off of Disney Consumer Products and taken up under the new division Disney Interactive Media Group.^[1]

List of games

Main article: List of Disney Interactive Studios games

The company also publishes games from Q Entertainment worldwide except Asia: Lumines II, the sequel to the puzzle game for the PSP system; Lumines Plus, a new version of Lumines for the PlayStation 2; Every Extend Extra, a puzzle shooter; and a Disney Interactive Studios's Meteos: Disney Edition, the popular Meteos game for the Nintendo DS with Disney characters.

Disney Interactive Studios has also announced the formation of a new development studio Fall Line Studio dedicated to creating games exclusively for Nintendo consoles Wii and Nintendo DS. Fall Line Studio will operate as a sister studio to Avalanche Software, both companies being based out of Salt Lake City. The studio will focus on small-team projects using Disney's brand. Former general manager of Rainbow Studios Scott Novis has been chosen to serve as vice president and general manager of Fall Line Studio.

Disney Interactive Studios has been a strong supporter of Nintendo platforms and is the number three publisher of Game Boy Advance titles in North America. And Fall Line marks the company's plan to cut back on outsourced game development and focus on internally developed software.

The company revealed a line up of games at E3 2006, which include DIE's Turok, a re-imagining of the video game series of the same name and Desperate Housewives: The Game, based on the hit television show.

Disney Interactive Studios is credited in all entries to the Kingdom Hearts franchise, with the original release boxart of each entry to the series having different logos and name of the company seeing as coincedently, the company is re-branded in between the releases. Notably however the company is not credited to actually developing the game.^[2]

Studios

• Avalanche Software, based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Acquired April 2005
• Gamestar, based in China. Acquired 8 April 2008^[3]
• Junction Point Studios, based in Austin, Texas. Acquired 13 July 2007
• Wideload Games, based in Chicago, Illinois. Acquired 8 September 2009
• Tapulous, based in Palo Alto, California. Acquired 1 July 2010
• Playdom, based in Mountain View, California. Acquired 27 July 2010

Acquisitions

On the July 13, 2007 it was announced that Disney Interactive Studios had acquired Warren Spector's Junction Point Studios.^[4]

On April 8, 2008 Disney Interactive announced it was acquiring Gamestar, a Chinese game development company.^{[citation needed]}

Fall Line Studios was created as an offshoot from Avalanche Software, but was later folded back into Avalanche.

On September 8, 2009, Disney Interactive announced that it has acquired Wideload Games, the company behind the hit Stubbs the Zombie. Disney is also releasing Split Second, a game for PS3 and Xbox 360.

On July 1, 2010, Disney Interactive announced it had acquired Tapulous, the studio behind the Tap Tap Revenge franchise for iOS.^[5]

Propaganda Games was shut down by Disney on January 19, 2011.^[6]

Black Rock Studios was shut down by Disney in July 2011. ^[7]

References

1. ^ Digital divide at Disney ends - Entertainment News, Technology News, Media - Variety
2. ^ http://na.square-enix.com/games/kingdomhearts/ -- © Disney. Developed by SQUARE ENIX.
3. ^ Disney Interactive Studios Agrees to Acquire China-Based Video Game Software Developer Gamestar: DisneyBar.com
4. ^ "Disney swoops for Spector's Junction Point Studios" from GamesIndustry.biz
5. ^ "Disney acquires Tapulous" from Techcrunch.com
6. ^ "Propaganda Games Shuttered" from Joystiq.com
7. ^ "Split Second Dev Black Rock To Close" from EuroGamer

External links

• Official website
• Buena Vista Games renamed Disney Interactive Studios

Development studios

• Avalanche Software
• Fall Line Studio
• Propaganda Games
• Black Rock Studio
• Junction Point
• Gamestar
• Wideload Games