Disney is abandoning the development of traditional console projects in favor of mobile and social games.
Over the last fiscal year, the Disney division responsible for game development lost $216 million. This is a lot, but last year it was more – $308 million, despite a number of high-profile projects, including Disney Epic Mickey, LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean and Cars 2.
So this fiscal year, which ended on September 29, the company released only two console projects – Disney Universe and the budget game adaptation Brave. Everything else is digital releases. As a result, the losses were $100 million less.
Now, according to Gamasutra, the company is not going to announce new console projects at all – only mobile and social. It is possible that the multiplatform sequel Epic Mickey from Warren Spector, which will soon come off the stocks, will be the last Disney console game.
In fiscal 2012, the most profitable mobile games for the company were: Gardens of Time, Temple Run: Brave and Where’s My Water.