Disney Speaks On Marvel Comics Acquisition
- Scribbled on September 1st, 2009 by Jason Andrews
- Filed in Industry News, Interviews, Legal Brief
The Walt Disney Company has stated that it would consider working with third-party publishers as an option to create new Marvel Comics-licensed video games, since announcing their intentions to acquire the comic book publisher and its portfolio of over 5,000 characters.
Robert Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, has said that although licensing can be lucrative, previous acquisitions have shown that deals in-house are better financially for the business and product quality. Iger also commented that the company is looking forward to integrating Marvel licenses more closely with Disney, describing how the company’s previous success with Pixar has proven it’s better to operate as one business.
“When you have companies entering into third-party relationships for licensing they can often be quite attractive, and they continue to be… But when you operate as one company and you vertically integrate, you remove from the equation a lot of friction, and when you’re both aligned in terms of creating value that can often be really compelling. That’s exactly what we found with Pixar. There were some licensing agreements that were attractive but there’s nothing better than being one. And that’s what we look forward to here.”
Licensing rights relating to Marvel characters in the use of video games before Disney’s acquisition had been granted to Activision for the upcoming Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, Sega for The Incredible Hulk, THQ for the Marvel Super Hero Squad and online digital entertainment company Gazillion Entertainment who produce the popular online MMO titles.
Now that The Walt Disney Company has more than 5,000 new characters to play with, could we see Mickey Mouse vs Wolverine in an upcoming title or see Super Woman take a visit to Wonderland? There are huge potential opportunities now for new surprises you might never thought possible!
September 1st, 2009 at 5:56 pm
why in hell would anyone want to play a wolverine vs mickey game??? thats just dumb. common sense will tell u mickey would lose and waist of time and money.
September 1st, 2009 at 5:58 pm
why??? why would anyone buy any game marvel vs disney character ????
September 1st, 2009 at 7:58 pm
Haha… it’s just an over the top example of how 2 completely different characters could meet…
I’m sure Mickey’s a Winner…he’ll win
September 2nd, 2009 at 4:00 pm
I have no doubt that Disney and Marvel have the potential to make this partnership work. However, some interesting points were brought up against my opinion in this video:
http://www.newsy.com/videos/spidey_meets_mickey