Acquiring and trashing companies is seriously annoying. Disney did this to about a half dozen game companies. Google is doing it to about a half dozen robotics companies. In both cases, the acquisitions were initially seen as positive. In both cases, the parent company had no clue what to do with what they bought.
I have a friend who works at a company recently acquired by Microsoft, a company whose product was not Microsoft-oriented. I wrote to her "You've been acquired by the Borg - now what?" She hopes the company doesn't get trashed.
Another case that irks me is QNX, the microkernel OS. They were bought by Harmon, which is mostly a car stereo company. That didn't work out, and Harmon sold them to Blackberry. Blackberry has a clue technically, but is stuck with a business model in decline. Meanwhile, a really good OS is in limbo. Not dead; many important embedded systems use QNX. The reliability is much better than either Windows or Linux, partly because the kernel is small. As a result, it's actually been debugged.
They always tell you that nothing will change and this isn't really a lie exactly, as the person who says it genuinely believes it. But in a year's time that person has moved on, been promoted, busy with another acquisition, whatever, and now you report to an established and powerful manager in the old company, who doesn't see why you are special or should be treated differently than his or her existing staff. In fact they probably actively resent you; the company buying you at all they take as a signal that existing staff weren't "good enough". At that point, you are screwed.
Disney: this isn't surprising. I don't think people realize how bureaucratically corporate Disney is, almost a parody at the level of "Brazil". They are a good employer though if one finds a happy place there with excellent benefits.
QNX: a lovely embedded and even service OS. I used it for encryption and stream management in a game-cartridge-over cable-TV headend. They also included a bag of chocolate chip cookies in the box. :)
Microsoft: I remember the agonizing (and multiply failed) Hotmail transition from Unix to Windows after the acquisition. I was working for a vendor called in to assist and the status meetings were a slow motion car wreck.
So many times a company isn't good at something, buys someone smaller and faster that is, and then imposes their way of doing things on the acquisition killing it.
> One of the most common refrains among ex-Disney staffers was that Disney had a strong aversion to risk.
Now why does that not surprise me. Disney stopped making art somewhere in the 1940's (fantasia) and started shipping product. I didn't share people's relief that the force awakens at least didn't suck like the prequels. The writing was so derivative as to almost make it a remake. Instead of Jar Jar Binks, the comic relief was Emo-Vader, but the comic relief shouldn't be the best part of the movie, and I'm not even sure if he was meant to be funny.
Sorry, unless you're an angsty teen, you weren't meant to relate to emo-vader, er, Kylo Ren. You were meant to relate to Han Solo. But you'd only relate if you're a parent. If not, then I guess there's always Traitor-guy. Yes the new episode is derivative. That's because it is how epics are told. It will diverge on the next two episodes from the original trilogy, unless Disney gets scared... that would be a huge disappointment...
Wildly overrated movie. I tried rewatching it on a plane a couple weeks ago, and it really doesn't stand up to repeat viewings. Apparently there is a novelization that patches up all the many, many plot points that were unexplained or made no sense in the movie script, but the movie is really just another lazy JJ Abrams production. Then you notice how, like Jurassic World, nearly every scene is a blatant callback to something from the original film.
Unfortunately, you could package two hours of film of an actual gold-plated turd, and it would make a billion dollars if it had the Star Wars name on it.
They may give him a license, but Disney is an IP black hole, they wont sell it back. And considering its very close to Pirates of the Caribbean, there's even less chance of that happening any time soon.
In my opinion, what Disney should be doing, is contact Ron, and make Guybrush and LeChuck appear in the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie, to introduce them to a new generation who does not have any idea of who they are (Guybrush being a young naive boy again would fit pretty well for this job). After all, PotC and MI universes are pretty compatible, it should be easy to make it look like they are both in the same universe/time.
Then, they could either make MI a spin-off (preferably), or make Guybrush be a new sidekick to Sparrow (but please, dont make him a silly Robin).
And then, give Ron full freedom to work with that IP as he wishes... (and pay him accordingly, or better, give him a nice % of royalties).
If they don't want to sell the IP, at least, this way they could make some money with it (instead of letting it rot in a drawer), without risking their PotC franchise, letting Ron continue the story, and making us fans happy in the process!!
Saddest part of the Disney Infinity debacle is the fans. DI was marketed strongly to kids based on the success of Star Wars and MCU franchises. Although game play was lackluster, the target audience (kids 4-8) didn't care. And the figurines were really very cool.
When they pulled the plug on Disney Infinity, they really sent a pretty clear "we don't care" to any kid that loved those DI figurines.
You don't want to send a FU to that market segment, because little boys don't forget.
Sadly, it won't matter. Here's another example of Disney neglecting successful markets they created. I just re-read this DuckTales 25th Anniversary Retrospective from a few years ago because Alan Young/Scrooge died the other day.
Excerpt:
But what media company has almost 4 times the market
capitalization of CBS and is among the largest media
conglomerates in the world? That would be Disney of course.
And what is Disney doing to celebrate the 25th Anniversary
of DuckTales, the most successful syndicated cartoon series
in history? Absolutely nothing.
I'm always quite amazed at Disney's inability to capitalize
on their own successful products.
Out of all the titles listed on there. Split/Second suffered the worst fate. One of the best arcade racers when it released with an excellent MP (on PC at least).
If managed properly, it could've ended up as popular as CoD4 or CS. Every person I know who played it loved it. It could've been the one franchise that would've unseated NFS as the undisputed champion for arcade racers and put them on the map for a new multiplayer experience. Instead, it suffered the worst possible fate for a product of its quality.
Disney should just let Square Enix handle their gamibg ventures. Somehow they could turn a 14-year-old girl's crossover fanfic into a phenomenal series and franchise in its own right (I of course am referring to Kingdom Hearts).
While Square Enix may tend to make great series, their financial situation isn't all roses either. The huge production delays on their games out of Japan have made those projects huge risks. Take a look at the amazing amount of money they seem to be putting into the launch of the new Final Fantasy game to try and recoup costs.
Their subsidiaries (eg IO Interactive and, Edios Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal) seem to be doing better overall.
While I think it is a good idea for a company to stick to their knitting (making movies and such, not video games) I'm not sure what studio will want to work with them when Disney holds all the IP to the characters.
Say a game is a hit and makes the game studio a lot of money. Disney's going to see that and demand more for licensing fees. What is the studio going to say? No? It isn't like the studio can start releasing games with those characters without Disney's blessing.
Or maybe it will work, who knows. It will be interesting to watch.
I'd be curious to see what deals Disney had worked out for its NES era games made by Capcom. While I remember them fondly, I guess I don't really know if they were commercially successful at the time or not.
If it was successful, then it just seems natural that they'd continue to license the IP out to let those who do know games do their thing with franchises, and honestly the in-house production of games for Disney always seemed off.
This is the exact model that LucasArts had. If you listen to stories from the original LucasArts crew, like David B. Fox, they tell stories that they were not allowed to make Star Wars games (originally to their disappointment) because George Lucas knew there was always somebody else willing to pay him gobs of money for the permission to make a Star Wars game. They take all the risk, and he makes money.
So this model is proven. Despite the hypothetical risk to not owning the IP, there was always somebody willing to pay and take the gamble.
Studios will simply negotiate exclusive rights I guess. You, and no one else, get to make Star Wars games for the next decade. Quality will probably go to shit as a result, but who cares about that?
The interactive division has burned through billions and billions of dollars since it was founded in the late 90s. It's not a big surprise that they would eventually go with a strategy of 'figure out what you're bad at, and stop doing that.' I was there from 2006 to 2015 and the layoffs were constant. Their IP is valuable but they can't execute efficiently.
The same company that fired all their IT people, after forcing them to train their offshore replacements, has a hard time turning a profit on quality software? Color me flabbergasted.
I interviewed at Wideload in downtown Chicago when they were owned by Disney and working on that Marvel mobile game. They were located in a floor of a building that kind of looked like a huge studio apartment. The people there were nice and it looked like a fun place to work. I only went with another company because they gave me an offer first.
But even though the company I went with instead proceeded to have a super rough year of losing multiple clients that ultimately resulted in my getting laid off, Disney had shuttered Wideload several months before that. It didn't make any sense to me, since these people were clearly talented (check out Guilty Party on the Wii, it's excellent).
And then I saw them shut down studio after studio, and it just makes them look inept in the game space, to me. Then another Disney company contacted me last year asking me to move across the country so I could work on their mobile park app. Couldn't really trust them anymore, so I passed.
[+] [-] Animats|10 years ago|reply
I have a friend who works at a company recently acquired by Microsoft, a company whose product was not Microsoft-oriented. I wrote to her "You've been acquired by the Borg - now what?" She hopes the company doesn't get trashed.
Another case that irks me is QNX, the microkernel OS. They were bought by Harmon, which is mostly a car stereo company. That didn't work out, and Harmon sold them to Blackberry. Blackberry has a clue technically, but is stuck with a business model in decline. Meanwhile, a really good OS is in limbo. Not dead; many important embedded systems use QNX. The reliability is much better than either Windows or Linux, partly because the kernel is small. As a result, it's actually been debugged.
[+] [-] gaius|10 years ago|reply
They always tell you that nothing will change and this isn't really a lie exactly, as the person who says it genuinely believes it. But in a year's time that person has moved on, been promoted, busy with another acquisition, whatever, and now you report to an established and powerful manager in the old company, who doesn't see why you are special or should be treated differently than his or her existing staff. In fact they probably actively resent you; the company buying you at all they take as a signal that existing staff weren't "good enough". At that point, you are screwed.
[+] [-] pinewurst|10 years ago|reply
QNX: a lovely embedded and even service OS. I used it for encryption and stream management in a game-cartridge-over cable-TV headend. They also included a bag of chocolate chip cookies in the box. :)
Microsoft: I remember the agonizing (and multiply failed) Hotmail transition from Unix to Windows after the acquisition. I was working for a vendor called in to assist and the status meetings were a slow motion car wreck.
[+] [-] madaxe_again|9 years ago|reply
It usually takes a year post deal for everything to come out of the woodwork. Sometimes it ends happily, sometimes not. It's down to serendipity.
Actually, generally, nobody has a clue what they're doing, ever, but they believe they do, and that's good enough, more often than not.
Acquisition deals happen almost by accident, and for reasons which are rarely rational.
[+] [-] xyzzy4|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stuaxo|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wobbleblob|10 years ago|reply
Now why does that not surprise me. Disney stopped making art somewhere in the 1940's (fantasia) and started shipping product. I didn't share people's relief that the force awakens at least didn't suck like the prequels. The writing was so derivative as to almost make it a remake. Instead of Jar Jar Binks, the comic relief was Emo-Vader, but the comic relief shouldn't be the best part of the movie, and I'm not even sure if he was meant to be funny.
[+] [-] bitJericho|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] douche|10 years ago|reply
Unfortunately, you could package two hours of film of an actual gold-plated turd, and it would make a billion dollars if it had the Star Wars name on it.
[+] [-] de_Selby|10 years ago|reply
I don't hold much hope for the next films.
[+] [-] acz|10 years ago|reply
>Dear @Disney, now that you're not making games, please sell me my Monkey Island and Mansion Mansion IP. I'll pay real actual money for them.
src: https://twitter.com/grumpygamer/status/734843964709175297
[+] [-] molmalo|10 years ago|reply
In my opinion, what Disney should be doing, is contact Ron, and make Guybrush and LeChuck appear in the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie, to introduce them to a new generation who does not have any idea of who they are (Guybrush being a young naive boy again would fit pretty well for this job). After all, PotC and MI universes are pretty compatible, it should be easy to make it look like they are both in the same universe/time.
Then, they could either make MI a spin-off (preferably), or make Guybrush be a new sidekick to Sparrow (but please, dont make him a silly Robin).
And then, give Ron full freedom to work with that IP as he wishes... (and pay him accordingly, or better, give him a nice % of royalties).
If they don't want to sell the IP, at least, this way they could make some money with it (instead of letting it rot in a drawer), without risking their PotC franchise, letting Ron continue the story, and making us fans happy in the process!!
[+] [-] officemonkey|10 years ago|reply
When they pulled the plug on Disney Infinity, they really sent a pretty clear "we don't care" to any kid that loved those DI figurines.
You don't want to send a FU to that market segment, because little boys don't forget.
[+] [-] dottrap|10 years ago|reply
Excerpt:
http://playcontrol.net/ewing/jibberjabber/ducktales-25th-ann...[+] [-] ameen|10 years ago|reply
If managed properly, it could've ended up as popular as CoD4 or CS. Every person I know who played it loved it. It could've been the one franchise that would've unseated NFS as the undisputed champion for arcade racers and put them on the map for a new multiplayer experience. Instead, it suffered the worst possible fate for a product of its quality.
[+] [-] bitwize|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] CJKinni|10 years ago|reply
Their subsidiaries (eg IO Interactive and, Edios Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal) seem to be doing better overall.
[+] [-] mhurron|9 years ago|reply
That's actually pretty funny, with SE also being a shadow of it's former self.
[+] [-] cwilkes|10 years ago|reply
Say a game is a hit and makes the game studio a lot of money. Disney's going to see that and demand more for licensing fees. What is the studio going to say? No? It isn't like the studio can start releasing games with those characters without Disney's blessing.
Or maybe it will work, who knows. It will be interesting to watch.
[+] [-] csydas|10 years ago|reply
If it was successful, then it just seems natural that they'd continue to license the IP out to let those who do know games do their thing with franchises, and honestly the in-house production of games for Disney always seemed off.
[+] [-] dottrap|9 years ago|reply
So this model is proven. Despite the hypothetical risk to not owning the IP, there was always somebody willing to pay and take the gamble.
[+] [-] deciplex|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] KJP191|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mullingitover|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ep103|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cableshaft|9 years ago|reply
But even though the company I went with instead proceeded to have a super rough year of losing multiple clients that ultimately resulted in my getting laid off, Disney had shuttered Wideload several months before that. It didn't make any sense to me, since these people were clearly talented (check out Guilty Party on the Wii, it's excellent).
And then I saw them shut down studio after studio, and it just makes them look inept in the game space, to me. Then another Disney company contacted me last year asking me to move across the country so I could work on their mobile park app. Couldn't really trust them anymore, so I passed.
[+] [-] williesleg|10 years ago|reply
[deleted]