back to article Disney throws $763m at social gaming

Disney has thrown over three quarters of a billion dollars to bring it up to Goliath status in the online gaming world, acquiring two and a half year old Playdom, which offers games for social networks – the new buzzword in gaming that has all the VCs on the planet hopping onto investments. Playdom offers Social City, Sorority …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Disco-Legend-Zeke
    Pint

    Nothing Says Stickiness...

    ...like social interaction.

    When i first saw the Internet in '92 or so, while studying at Eastern Arizona College, there was only text: telnet, archie, etc., that HTTP thing reached us much later.

    What hooked me (in the net addiction sense) were the social games. Humans NEED social interaction, and the MUSHes and MUDs of the era fulfilled that need for hundreds of thousands of people.

    I settled into two environments. The first, a MUSH, featured LISP-like programming tools for users, allowing them to create rooms, bots, and other objects. Users can (fresh code still exists, and there is are active MUSH community) create rooms, objects, robots and AI's to impress and entertain their friends..

    The second enviroment was based on mudOS, which provided C-like commands intended for administrators only, players did not create. Even though the framework was adventure-type text gaming, the attraction was social interation.

    Most of these were hosted at major universities, and, indeed some of the best MUD/MUSH game programmers threw it all away to become heart surgeons and suchlike.

    The problem (IMHO) with these codes, was a license that prohibited commercial use, essentially preventing the kind of cash flow that enables growth.

    1. bothwell

      @Nothing Says Stickiness...

      Not really sure why this comment was downvoted, seems a worthwhile precis :/ I think one of the issues Disney (and Playdom) is going to have is that people are likely to perceive their games as advertising for their products, particularly in the online social world where everything is 'free'. It'll be interesting to see what happens next, but I'm not sure how well Playdom will be able to fend off lameness from its new parent company.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Troll

        Re: @Nothing Says Stickiness...

        It was probably downvoted because it mentioned money being made from software. Heaven forbid, eh?

  2. Will Leamon

    Sports

    I think we should consider Disney's ESPN in this a bit more. A game developer is exactly who I would tap if I simply wanted really nifty 'interactive apps' based on sports. The ESPN / Playdom combo could really pay off in a host of Apps that mid-demographic men would use everyday. Couple that with ESPNs already strong host of advertiser affiliations and you could be on track to simply start printing money.

    As long as Zuckerberg and Co don't get to greedy that is...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Um...

      > As long as Zuckerberg and Co don't get to greedy that is...

      I'll be back to retort this once I stop laughing so profusely... Zuckerberg, not getting too greedy... sorry that really is the funniest thing I have heard all week.

  3. Tommy Pock

    Purveyors of tat

    From the people responsible for the Disney Princess Talking Cash Register? My hopes aren't high.

  4. Goat Jam
    FAIL

    Disney huh?

    meh

  5. Graham Bartlett

    "Sorority Life"?

    Enquiring minds want to know. Is this dedicated to getting your sim drunk, drugged and molested by the football team? Or do you just hang out and make bitchy comments about each other, and single out someone to pick on (usually the one who isn't spending stupid amounts of money on the latest fashion accessories) whilst hoping they don't all turn on you?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It is simply a return to the frey

    Disney made hay with their games some years ago. The Lion King had a great platform game and many others. To my mind, they've been rather quiet for some time on this front. With the characters they can bring to games then there is chance they'll carve themselves an almost instantaneous large presence.

    As I write this, I'm looking at my copies of "Aladin" and "The Lion King" on 3/5" floppy. In wonder if they'll work under Wine?

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like