Disney has mostly focused on licensing out its popular IP for studios to use in game development over the last decade. However, a new report shows that executives at the media powerhouse want the company to become a \u201cgaming giant\u201d too, potentially through a major acquisition of Electronic Arts. <\/p>
This is not the first time Disney has been mentioned as being an interested party in a potential EA acquisition or merger, with reports from May 2022 mentioning EA CEO Andrew Wilson talking to Disney about a \u201cmore meaningful relationship\u201d<\/a> than previous licensing deals. Apple, Amazon, and other large media companies were also listed in those reports, but Wilson later spoke out against the idea<\/a> last August and things have quieted down on that front for EA since.<\/p>
With the closure of Disney Interactive Studios in 2016, Disney almost exclusively began working with external partners to create games based on its IP. EA was already one of the company\u2019s closest partners in the games industry, and that has continued despite Disney deciding to end EA\u2019s exclusive hold over major Star Wars <\/em>titles<\/a> in January 2021.\u00a0<\/p>
The success of Respawn\u2019s Jedi: Fallen Order <\/em>and Jedi: Survivor <\/em>looks to have spawned a third title<\/a> and EA already has two additional Star Wars <\/em>titles in the works alongside Iron Man <\/em>and Black Panther <\/em>projects from Motive Studios and Cliffhanger Games, respectively. That is just through a licensing deal, so it is easy to see why a potential buyout is on the mind of some executives close to Iger.\u00a0<\/p>
