Disney: 'High-Quality Executions' Of Marvel Games Planned, Post-Acquisition

Talking to Gamasutra, Disney's Stephen Wadsworth and Graham Hopper have revealed that they're having "a lot of conversations" with executives at the recently acquired Marvel, with a view to Disney-made "high-quality executions" of Marvel games. Wadsworth, who is president of the Disney Interactive Media Group and recently spoke at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas, noted that Disney/Marvel discussions about games are still relatively early, since the Spider-Man and Hulk creator was only purchased last August. His colleague Graham Hopper, head of Disney Interactive Studios, commented on the possibilities of Disney-masterminded Marvel games: "We're engaged in a lot of conversations with the Marvel team", adding: "We would like to do some things in there which would be really high-quality executions of Marvel content." The recent Disney results also echoed the belief that Marvel games would be good for the higher-end, more "hardcore" Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 demographic which some Disney properties have a more difficult time reaching. However, since a number of third-party game publishers currently have agreements with Marvel -- for example, Sega for the upcoming Iron Man 2 game -- it appears that it may be some time before all major Marvel properties free up for Disney control in terms of video games. As for what branding these titles would be released under, Disney's Wadsworth told Gamasutra: "If we do things under the Marvel brand it may just be [marked on the box] under the Marvel brand." He added that it also might be a joint Marvel/Disney brand in some cases. But since Disney products are not ever M-rated (the company's Turok was actually released under the Touchstone label), it appears that the former Marvel-only branding could apply for some of the more adult superhero titles -- which are nonetheless extremely early in the planning stages.