Disney to make children’s MMO
It has been reported that The Walt Disney Company will be launching their first ever MMORPG world with the much anticipated Disney Fantasy Online - expected for release in the Spring of 2009. Disney have partnered with NetDragon Websoft Inc. – to bring us this title, who are known as a leading developers of online games in China.
This is a significant event for Disney, as it shows that they may be seeing their mainstream audiences toward the MMORPG industry to spend time playing games. This might just be able to create a new source of revenue for Disney. It also might be helpful with curbing the loss of revenues they are seeing from other product lines because their target market is spending more time online, less in the movie theaters & even less time at theme parks.
We all know about Disney’s media prowess to generate an experience that immerses their followers in a highly engaging visual experience. That experience tends to keep the audience glued to the screen for a fixed period of time. Now the games that they produce can be live & online, and can be seen as building a community of players rather than just a solo or small group experience.
Details of the games features were discussed in a press release on Yahoo where the creative aspects of the games operation were discussed. With a free to play model in mind, the opportunities for revenue would most likely draw from the utilization of Disney character persona’s. Mounts & interactions with the Disney-themed game were laid out & impressed many with their broad adoption of traditional MMO design techniques.
Disney is now offering validity to the gaming styles & user engagement approach that others have seen when mixing offline & online consumer marketing & revenue generation strategies. These opportunities to cross populate the markets of digital media, movie theaters, theme parks & now the online MMORPG gaming markets will surely be watched closely by many players.
The game will evolve with opportunities for new content, more playing styles & even the creation of a users own pets, virtual castles, communities to explore the game experience together with others, making the experience tailorable to their own interests.
It isn’t yet known if Disney has any long-term relationship with NetDragon, as details of the relationship don’t seem to be available at this time, but an entry into this market with the Chinese gaming market alone could be huge for building the China market for Disney & then migrate into other parts of the Globe.
The opportunity to link the China market with others is also huge, and if the Chinese government allows their MMORPG players to connect outside of their country then the opportunities to bring other cultures together into the MMORPG gameosphere will be huge.
Stay tuned for further developments in the Disney MMORPG launch and watch them make their move into this potentially huge market. They will likely set records and position fantasy gaming as more mainstream choice with this development – and that’s great for everyone.
