The Walt Disney Company's Consumer Products & Interactive Media segment has been lagging of late. The company reported a quarterly decrease of eight percent in revenues for the division and a yearly decrease of four percent. To remedy the problem, Disney has announced a new multi-year deal with video game developer Jam City.
“While our licensing business for Disney Animation and Pixar games has grown over the last year and we have several top developers creating Disney games, this deal with Jam City represents a significant long-term opportunity for our games business and for the future slate of Disney and Pixar games,” said Kyle Laughlin, Senior Vice President of Games and Interactive Experiences at Disney. “We can’t wait to see how Jam City and the incredibly talented team behind Disney Emoji Blitz will grow the already successful game and franchise, and how Jam City will bring their global reach and expertise in developing successful, enduring mobile games to the upcoming titles.”
Under the partnership, Jam City will develop a new slate of mobile games based on Disney's iconic Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios IP. Jam City will also be taking over Disney's popular mobile game Disney Emoji Blitz. Members of Disney's Glendale Games Studio will join Jam City to continue growing the popular match-three game featuring hundreds of Disney Animation, Pixar, and Star Wars emojis.
“Jam City is proud to be teaming with Disney,” added Chris DeWolfe, co-founder and CEO of Jam City. “Disney is the world’s leader in beloved characters and brands that have engaged generations of fans for decades. Jam City’s leadership in mobile entertainment based on iconic entertainment IP, makes our company an ideal partner to develop a lineup of new mobile games with Disney’s most popular franchises.”
Jam City will also be developing a new mobile game based on Disney Animation's Frozen sequel, which hits theaters November 22, 2019. Of course, the developer will have access to Disney's vast library of iconic characters and stories from Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios so expect a lengthy pipeline of mobile games over the next few years.