disney-online-studios
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Club Penguin gets $4.7 million online safety campaign
Games for kids need to be safe for kids, and recent news about Habbo highlights the importance of this. In the aftermath of concerns raised in that community, Disney has decided to launch an expansive safety campaign for its popular Club Penguin title. The campaign will spend $4.7 million to target not only the children who who play the game but also parents through advertising on various media including websites, magazines, television, and in the game itself. Club Penguin co-founder and Executive VP of Disney Online Studios Lane Merrifield emphasizes the company's stance on the importance of online safety and that education is a key element. Merrifield states, "From the very start, our vision for Club Penguin was to create a safe place for my kids and their friends to play online. The scale may now be bigger than I could ever have imagined but that philosophy has not changed. As an industry I think we can help teach kids the lessons that they need to become responsible digital citizens."
Disney Fantasy Online becoming a reality in Spring 2009
Last we heard, Disney was interested, but not planning, to come up with their own themed MMO. Now we are told that Mickey and friends are heading to China to star in a new game in Spring 2009 - this from the news that NetDragon and Disney have teamed up to launch Disney Fantasy Online. The Disney cast of characters are set to play NPCs in a game of high adventure and romance where players can quest and level their way through campaigns. The dynamic sounds similar to that of Hello Kitty Online, where players are able to farm, build, and raise pets in a themed environment without actually being the well-known characters. According to NetDragon, additional expansions and content will be released often to keep the game fresh. No word yet on whether/when DFO might be available outside of China, but we will stay on top of it for you.
The future of Disney Online: An interview with SVP Steve Parkis
Last week, Disney Online merged multiple online divisions into a single entity now called Disney Online Studios. I had a chance to talk to the Senior Vice President in charge of it all, Steve Parkis, about the vision for one of the world's most recognizable brands as it tackles the fast-rising casual online gameplay market.Before now, Disney's online efforts spanned over many different areas: developing Flash based casual games; acquiring the online community, Club Penguin; and building the successful family-oriented MMORPGs ToonTown Online and Pirates of the Caribbean Online. Steve's mission is to bring all of those together to make Disney.com a dedicated casual games destination.He believes that casual players are more than just Women 35+ and that there is a large, untapped market of players that Disney's brand can draw in. But how does he plan to do that?
