john-pleasants
Latest
Disney Interactive lays off 80 more
Disney Interactive has reportedly let another 80 or so employees go, adding to the more than 250 people that were let go earlier this year. Co-presidents James Pitaro and John Pleasants are overseeing the cuts, trying to trim down a division that once had more than 4,000 employees by seven percent or so. Last month, Pleasants, who used to run social game company Playdom, told investors that he wanted to cut the operating costs of the division by 25 percent, and it's likely these layoffs are part of that plan. Officially, Disney called the layoffs "targeted," and said they were "part of setting a strategic direction for future success in digital media." Hopefully this is the last round of exits we'll see from the shrinking House of Interactive Mouse.
Disney Interactive likely to invest less in console games following $234M loss
Losing $234 million over the course of 12 months is pretty unimaginable to most individuals. For Disney, it's not such a big deal, especially when that loss is recorded by just one of its six company divisions -- the other five all profited over the last fiscal year (ending October 2, 2010), including its Media Networks, which pulled in more than $5 billion in operating income (profit excluding interest payments and income taxes). Unfortunately for gamers, that one bad division was Interactive Media. Uh-oh. "On one side we've got a collection of games businesses," Disney CEO Bob Iger explained of the Interactive Media division to investors during a call this week, "and the other side we have a collection of largely dot-com businesses." For both the fourth quarter and entire fiscal year, Interactive's revenues actually increased marginally over the previous year's earnings, and "operating results" were "improved" (meaning: the division lost less money -- perhaps unimaginably -- in fiscal 2010 than in the previous fiscal year). Still, when you end up $234 million in the hole, something's gotta change. A new Toy Story game (the division's big breadwinner for the year) can't be released every year, after all. Reflecting on a "pretty big shift" in the games industry, in which "everything from mobile apps to social networking games" has become a player, Iger said of Interactive, "It's our goal not only to be profitable, but obviously to get there by shifting our investment and reducing our investment, too." You know what that means: "We probably will end up investing less on the console side than we have because of the shift we're seeing in consumption [...] Consumers are obviously spending time playing games -- from casual games online to mobile apps to social networking to console -- and we felt all along that we need to be where the consumer are [...] we want to be there." No doubt. Quick -- everybody go buy Split/Second before it's too late! Like, for real this time.
Disney Interactive gets two new presidents
Their names were John Pleasants and James Pitaro -- two hard-nosed CEOs from different sides of the track -- even though everybody who knew anything called them Jack and Jim. Jack grew up on the mean streets of EA until he gave 'em the clean sneak and shacked up with Playdom. Man, the team there was so green Kermit woulda tossed them a pity nickel, but he worked 'em into a lean crew the Mouse House just couldn't resist. Pitaro, now he used to real choir boy, running sports over at Yahoo!. That was until someone from the media division looked at him the wrong way and he cleaned house over there so bad he was the only one left standing to see how spic 'n' span it was. Now when the two of them took over as co-presidents of Disney Interactive way back at the beginning of October 2010, the two of them really started getting gashouse. Heck, there wasn't a fakealoo artist or roundheel left in that clip joint after Jack (who ran the games) and Jim (the online guy) were finished tuning them up. Yep, they was about the best damn buttons I ever seen ... best I ever seen.
Disney Interactive Media president resigns
Steve Wadsworth, head of Disney's Interactive Media Group -- better known to us as "the guy in charge of Disney's video game arm" -- has stepped down. According to a New York Times report, Wadsworth issued a late-night missive to his staff last Thursday announcing his resignation. "I have been thinking about this for quite some time, and while it is difficult to leave a great company, an exciting business and a wonderful group of people, my desire and excitement to pursue other opportunities is too great to ignore." Disney confirmed the news and offered an official statement from Wadsworth: "While there is never a good time to leave a great role at a great company, for many reasons now is the right time for me to move on. I am extremely proud of the huge progress we've made at Disney Interactive Media Group, and am confident that the business is well-positioned for continued significant growth." The split appears to be amicable, with Disney CEO Robert Iger offering only kind words about Wadsworth (found in full after the break). The NYT also heard from "people with knowledge of the matter" that a replacement should be revealed "shortly," with Playdom head John Pleasants allegedly being eyed for the position (a social game developer that Disney acquired earlier this year).
Playdom CEO: 'Core gamers are playing this stuff'
Social gaming is bigger than ever. Playdom CEO John Pleasants gave an interview on stage at the LA Games Conference today, and said that while the western market for Facebook and social games currently pulls in over $750 million, it's going to balloon to as much as $4 to 5 billion in the next five years or so. His own company is developing at an extremely rapid pace -- it's purchased and acquired enough companies and studios to have ten different teams developing, and they plan to release ten games, "all original ideas," in just the next five months. So why aren't you "core" gamers playing these games yet? Pleasants says you are. He told Joystiq after the presentation that "If you look at something like Mobsters 2, and you go look at the boards where people are talking about it, they're like, 'Look, I love this game, but I have to go back and play Halo.' Core gamers are playing this stuff." He said that the numbers alone prove that traditional gamers are already on board with social games. "This business is bigger than that business, in terms of reach," he told us. "By definition, those circles overlap." Pleasants also believes that the core game companies like Sony, EA, and Microsoft already know that -- in the next year or so, he said, almost 20% of the social gaming market will be owned by bigger brands. "This space has gotten enough notice now that people believe it's real."
Former EA COO says EA is in 'investment mode,' focusing on digital distribution
Right before hitting the ol' dusty trail for Playdom, now ex-EA COO John Pleasants sat down with Reuters for an interview all about the future of EA. In it, he speaks to the multifaceted future of EA (especially with regards to business models), as well as the importance of EA's current "investor mode," saying the company will announce new deals with various social networking services "some time in the near future." Though we're not sure if the recent change in guard from Pleasants to Microsoft alum John Schappert will alter what the ex-COO said to Reuters, things like the recently announced Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online point to "not likely." This isn't exactly a dramatic change from statements that Pleasants has made in the past regarding the company's business strategy, so it remains to be seen whether or not Schappert will steer the EA ship in another direction or stay the course.[Via Edge]
EA COO expresses game plan going forward
EA COO John Pleasants expressed at a recent conference that the company will focus on better marketing and online products going forward. With 1,100 employees being cut loose, EA has little choice but to refocus its business -- unless the company want to go back to its dark ways.Pleasants didn't expect the publisher to cut the marketing budget for its games, but does foresee games having "much longer" lead times to build consumer hype. Although he didn't mention any titles, Mirror's Edge and Dead Space would probably be fine examples, as neither had its coming out party until E3 2008 and both released to relatively low sales just a few months later.EA will be releasing more titles for Wii and sees great change coming to the rhythm game genre. The publisher is also looking to expand its online offerings, as Pleasants is "bullish" about Star Wars: The Old Republic's potential, but blessedly notes that it would be "hubris" to posit is as a World of Warcraft killer.
