Disney to Triple Video Game Investment

Walt Disney Co. just can't wait to be king of the video game business. The media giant will seek to triple their current $100 million yearly investment in the video game industry, Disney executive Thomas O. Staggs (pictured left) said on Friday. "Over the next five years or so we are ramping up to about a pace of $350 million per year in video game investment, principally consoles and hand-helds," he stated, according to the LA Times. Last year Disney made several moves to increase its stock in the industry, including the signing of a publishing deal with Tetsuya Mizuguchi's studio Q Entertainment, as well as the acquisition of Propaganda Games, Avalanche Software, Climax's racing dev studio, and the rights to the Turok franchise. The company also formed Fall Line Studio, a developer entirely focused on creating games for the Nintendo Wii and DS. Disney Interactive Studios--previously named Buena Vista Interactive--most recently published the Eurocom-developed multiplatform tie-in game for Disney's blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (PS2, PS3, X360, Wii, NDS, PSP, PC). A Pirates of the Caribbean PC MMO has been in the works at Walt Disney Internet Group's VR Studio for some time now and is planned for release later this year. Also expected later this year is Propaganda Game's PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 rendition of the dinosaur hunting Turok, a first person shooter built with Epic's Unreal Engine 3. With hopes to establish its name under the sea of video game properties, Disney admits it has a long way to go. "We are early on in the process of developing a video-gaming capability," Staggs said.