Disney Trying New Approach to Gaming With A Number Of High-Profile Partners

At one point, Disney Interactive was very prominent in video games, working on titles like Split/Second, Disney Infinity and Marvel Heroes Omega. Alas, all of those developers and projects ended up getting the shaft, and the company has been trying to find its new game direction since.

It appears, though, that it might be finding its way. The Verge has recently reported that Disney is pushing into a new direction with mobile, teaming up with a number of high-profile partners on forthcoming projects.

Disney executive Kyle Laughlin confirmed the news today, noting that Ludia, Glu, Gameloft and PerBlue are said partners, and each one is working on unannounced projects based on big Disney franchises. No specific titles were given, but we're likely to learn more about them as the year goes on.

Laughlin made the announcement at the Casual Connect USA event earlier today, noting, "We've been working hard to find the right partners and work with developers and partners that have had success before."

Hopefully it's a new start for Disney after what seems like a number of costly failures. Disney Infinity 3.0: Star Wars was really thriving for some time before the company pulled the plug, citing high production costs. And it also left the developers at Gazillion high and dry after shutting down Marvel Heroes Omega abruptly, forcing the closure of the company and the loss of many jobs during the holiday season.

It sounds like the partners are being optimistic, though. PerBlue CEO Justin Beck noted, "We are super excited about our partnership with Disney. As Kyle's talk outlines, PerBlue and Disney share a very similar view of what is important in game development: take the long term view to build big hits, do the hard work necessary, listen to the players and get it right to make awesome experiences for our players."

For now, the only big name project that we know Disney is working on is Kingdom Hearts III, which Square Enix will reportedly release later this year.

As for what the games could be based on, there are a lot of Disney movies coming this year, including Avengers: Infinity War from Marvel Studios, the new Star Wars movie Solo, as well as animated projects like The Incredibles 2 from Pixar and the Wreck-It Ralph sequel coming around Thanksgiving.