Entertainment giant Disney might be in the market to buy a video games publisher.
That's according to reporting from Bloomberg, which writes that the company's CEO Bob Iger is being pushed by other senior execs to look into acquiring a games firm. One publisher that is floated for purchase is Electronic Arts, with whom Disney already works with. Senior execs reportedly want Disney to move from a licensing model to having first-party development and publishing capabilities.
Iger is apparently said to be "noncommittal" on the matter.
Disney has in the past had a games division – Disney Interactive Studios - which boasted development talent including Climax Racing, renamed Black Rock Studio, Avalanche Software and GameStar. Much of its developers were closed down.
Disney has since moved to licensing its IP to publishers including EA, Bethesda and Ubisoft. In 2019, Iger – then in his first stint as the House of Mouse's CEO – said that licensing was the best model for the company in games.
Last year, it was reported that EA had been in acquisition discussions with a number of different entertainment and tech giants, including Disney.