Disney has been forced to adopt a strategy of “intelligent diversification” to counter the advanced disruption in the market – this means making “smart bets” on projects. Sounds more like an excuse to stick their fingers in a lot of pies, and lose any form of focus that they once had.
Call me old fashioned, but Disney is supposed to mean cute, well-told stories in movie form with whatever merchandizing and spin-offs that they can manage. It appears that, while to some extent they are sticking with this model, they are losing focus and blaming it on the market.
VP of product development, Bill Roper, explained:
“It’s such a disruptive time in the industry right now. You’ve got mobile just exploding; the Wii U came out last year; you’ve got Xbox One and PS4 coming out this year. In the 19 years I’ve been doing this, it’s easily the most disruptive time, which is saying quite a bit because we’ve gone through a lot in the past.”
I’m not sure how this is the most “disruptive time” in the industry. There has always been a lot of competition, plenty of platforms and new technology thrown into the mix. When was the last time that the industry wasn’t in a disruptive state? I don’t see things changing anytime soon.
Roper went on to say of Infinity:
“I don’t know if it’s the core of the Interactive business. I think the great thing is that we’re so diversified with our strategy. It’s where a lot of our focus is, obviously not all of our focus. But we do see it as a platform. We designed it to be a platform for all things Disney: past, present, and future. And we want it to be something that continually grows and expands to be even better and more fun.”
Disney Infinity is launching later this month and is striving to cash in on the Skylanders appeal. The game looks admittedly awesome, but is also going to cost a rather pretty penny. Is this just Disney’s way of saying that they are diversifying so much that they aren’t worried if Infinity isn’t an instant hit, or if Fantasia: Music Evolved doesn’t fly off the shelves?
It sounds a bit like hedging their bets to me.
Last Updated: August 1, 2013
Trevor Davies
August 2, 2013 at 08:31
Is that the Illusive Mouse in the header image?
Maybe he’s not expressing himself very well, but it sounds to me like he’s not too sure what’s going on & how to deal with it.
RinceThisAndGingerSmite
August 2, 2013 at 12:03
What I would like to know is why they are not releasing Disney Infinity just before Christmas. I would think they would make an absolute killing if they did.
Trevor Davies
August 2, 2013 at 13:05
They would. Hopefully it’s because it’s just not ready & not because they diverted their focus 😉
RinceThisAndGingerSmite
August 2, 2013 at 13:07
But it’s out before Christmas isn’t it? Like in the next month or so. Well done on comment of the week by the way 😉
Trevor Davies
August 2, 2013 at 13:11
Oops, I misread. & thank you kind sir!