Disney Eyes More Online Investment

The Walt Disney Co. will invest more in online games and virtual worlds following the success of sites with themes based on Disney Fairies and “Pirates of the Caribbean.” In 2008, the company will launch an online game site based on the Disney/Pixar film “Cars,” Disney President and CEO Robert Iger said Nov. 29 during the Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Long View Conference. In August, Disney acquired Club Penguin, a virtual world site with more than 700,000 paid subscribers. Disney is going to invest “substantially” in these types of sites over the next few years because of their potential and fitting in with the rise of the home computer as an entertainment medium, Iger said. The sites are also helpful in growing and maintaining interest in Disney film franchises, Iger said. For instance in the absence of a sequel for “Cars” or while waiting for a sequel, the new virtual world site based on the film will continue to make the characters and setting relevant and in front of millions of people around the world, Iger said. “You can live with and act with Lightning McQueen for years to come,” Iger added.