06-03-2014 19:09
Se trata del 26% de l parte de la empresa dedicada a los juegos de video.
GLENDALE, Calif. ÔÇô DisneyÔÇÖs struggling video game and Internet division laid off roughly 700 employees on Thursday, or 26 percent of its global staff, in a major retrenchment that includes a shift in advertising strategy at Disney.com.
ÔÇ£These are large-scale changes as we focus not just on getting to profitability but sustained profitability and scalability,ÔÇØ James A. Pitaro, the president of Disney Interactive, said in an interview.
Layoffs were long expected in the unit, but not on this scale. They came as a result of DisneyÔÇÖs decision to combine two businesses: booming mobile games (those played on iPads and smartphones) and sagging social games (those played on websites like Facebook). In a major shift in strategy, Disney also decided to dramatically scale back in-house development of games of all types. It will now rely much more on outside licensing.
Disney Interactive, which published roughly two dozen games last year, including disappointments like ÔÇ£WhereÔÇÖs My Water? 2'ÔÇÖ and ÔÇ£Stack Rabbit,'ÔÇÖ will cut annual game output by as much as 50 percent.
On the Internet side of the division, Disney will close two smaller websites called BabyZone.com and Spoonful.com. It will also transition Disney.com, the companyÔÇÖs main portal, to sponsorship-based advertising instead of banner ads.
ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre not exiting any businesses, and we will pursue licensing partnerships in which we retain a lot of creative input,ÔÇØ Mr. Pitaro said. ÔÇ£But this is a doubling down on mobile and an effort to focus much more intently on a core set of priorities.ÔÇØ
In other words, whatÔÇÖs working. Disney Interactive, which has suffered more than $1 billion in losses in recent years, has finally turned a profit in the last two quarters largely because of Infinity, a combination video game and toy line that has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide since its August debut.
Disney Interactive also has a thriving mobile business in Japan, where Disney-branded mobile devices and games have recently become a minor cultural phenomenon. Tsumu Tsumu, a mobile game, has been downloaded more than 8 million times since its Jan. 29 release and is the No. 1 app in Japan.
ÔÇ£At the same time we are reducing our focus in some areas, we are making strategic investments in others, and the Japan business is one,ÔÇØ Mr. Pitaro said.
What has not been working is social gaming. ThursdayÔÇÖs re-organization ÔÇô the latest of several as Disney has scrambled to keep up with a fast-evolving digital media marketplace ÔÇô is in some ways an admission that DisneyÔÇÖs $563 million acquisition of the social game company Playdom in 2010 was a bust.
At the time of the Playdom purchase, Facebook-based social games like ZyngaÔÇÖs FarmVille were skyrocketing in popularity. But that business has fallen off as consumers moved to smartphones and other mobile devices with greater speed than anticipated. Playdom has not had a breakout hit since Disney purchased it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/07/busine....html?_r=1
GLENDALE, Calif. ÔÇô DisneyÔÇÖs struggling video game and Internet division laid off roughly 700 employees on Thursday, or 26 percent of its global staff, in a major retrenchment that includes a shift in advertising strategy at Disney.com.
ÔÇ£These are large-scale changes as we focus not just on getting to profitability but sustained profitability and scalability,ÔÇØ James A. Pitaro, the president of Disney Interactive, said in an interview.
Layoffs were long expected in the unit, but not on this scale. They came as a result of DisneyÔÇÖs decision to combine two businesses: booming mobile games (those played on iPads and smartphones) and sagging social games (those played on websites like Facebook). In a major shift in strategy, Disney also decided to dramatically scale back in-house development of games of all types. It will now rely much more on outside licensing.
Disney Interactive, which published roughly two dozen games last year, including disappointments like ÔÇ£WhereÔÇÖs My Water? 2'ÔÇÖ and ÔÇ£Stack Rabbit,'ÔÇÖ will cut annual game output by as much as 50 percent.
On the Internet side of the division, Disney will close two smaller websites called BabyZone.com and Spoonful.com. It will also transition Disney.com, the companyÔÇÖs main portal, to sponsorship-based advertising instead of banner ads.
ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre not exiting any businesses, and we will pursue licensing partnerships in which we retain a lot of creative input,ÔÇØ Mr. Pitaro said. ÔÇ£But this is a doubling down on mobile and an effort to focus much more intently on a core set of priorities.ÔÇØ
In other words, whatÔÇÖs working. Disney Interactive, which has suffered more than $1 billion in losses in recent years, has finally turned a profit in the last two quarters largely because of Infinity, a combination video game and toy line that has sold more than 3 million copies worldwide since its August debut.
Disney Interactive also has a thriving mobile business in Japan, where Disney-branded mobile devices and games have recently become a minor cultural phenomenon. Tsumu Tsumu, a mobile game, has been downloaded more than 8 million times since its Jan. 29 release and is the No. 1 app in Japan.
ÔÇ£At the same time we are reducing our focus in some areas, we are making strategic investments in others, and the Japan business is one,ÔÇØ Mr. Pitaro said.
What has not been working is social gaming. ThursdayÔÇÖs re-organization ÔÇô the latest of several as Disney has scrambled to keep up with a fast-evolving digital media marketplace ÔÇô is in some ways an admission that DisneyÔÇÖs $563 million acquisition of the social game company Playdom in 2010 was a bust.
At the time of the Playdom purchase, Facebook-based social games like ZyngaÔÇÖs FarmVille were skyrocketing in popularity. But that business has fallen off as consumers moved to smartphones and other mobile devices with greater speed than anticipated. Playdom has not had a breakout hit since Disney purchased it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/07/busine....html?_r=1