Following the huge success of Marvel's Spider-Man and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Disney has been moved to encourage more developers to reach out with ideas. If a studio has a killer concept for a game based on one of Disney's (now insanely vast) library of characters, the House of Mouse is open to collaborating.
Speaking at the 2020 DICE Summit in Las Vegas (thanks, The Hollywood Reporter), Disney's Senior VP of Games and Interactive Experiences Sean Shoptaw had an exciting message for the assembled developers.
"I'm here for one specific reason," he told the room. "To empower you to do really unique things with our [catalogue]. We want to tap into the power of creatives across the industry. We want to dream big and look forward to all the things we can do together."
Shoptaw wants developers to "come and play" with all of the properties Disney owns. An incredibly exciting prospect for any studio, I would imagine, given the sheer amount of globally-beloved franchises the company is now in charge of. The Avengers, Spider-Man, Star Wars, The Simpsons, Toy Story, even the bloody Homeward Bound franchise - the sky is the limit.
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Maybe don't make a Homeward Bound game though, eh?
It's been quite some time since Disney developed and published big budget video game titles in-house. These days, the company prefers to work with external companies to produce games based on its franchises. Most notably, EA works on the Star Wars franchise, while Square Enix has collaborated with Disney for years now on Kingdom Hearts.
Marvel's Spider-Man and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order are two of the best-selling single-player titles of the current generation, so it's no surprise that Disney wants to branch out and work with new studios on familiar franchises. Maybe this means a Simpsons Hit & Run remake is finally on the cards? We know some of the original game's team would be keen to make that happen, and there's certainly a demand for it from the fans.
Beyond that, I'd love to see a new adventure game that makes use of the Toy Story franchise... Or perhaps some kind of Super Smash Bros. style battle royale starring Disney Princesses? There are so many possibilities that just thinking about what we could get in the next few years leaves me feeling a little dizzy.
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I've reached out with my own pitch for a Grand Theft Auto-style open world crime sim starring the cast of The Muppets, but Disney has yet to respond. Cowards.
Featured Image Credit: Sony/EATopics: Disney, Marvel, Spider-Man