Disney Interactive shows overall loss, Club Penguin gains profits
Disney ventured into the world of casual MMOs for kids back in 2005 with Virtual Magic Kingdom. While VMK is no more, the Disney staff responsible for those MMOs are no doubt patting themselves on the back this week for making that leap.
Disney released its Q1 2010 earnings earlier this week, and Disney Interactive Media -- a division that covers console, handheld, and PC/online games -- reported profits down 29%. The standout in these numbers was MMO Club Penguin, which saw "strong growth in paid subscription contributing to better results," according to SVP and CFO Jay Rasulo.
This follows the trend toward casual games as of late, and is serving to help steer Disney away from high end console games. Disney CEO Bob Iger says "we're going to continue to make games for the high end, we'll be very, very judicious in how many and which ones we choose."
