According to a recent report, it looks like Disney is looking to change things up and significantly push its video game reach, insofar that the house of the mouse has hired former PlayStation portfolio head to help “make cool game stuff happen.”
Website gamesindustry.biz writes that John Drake has joined Disney. The individual in question has spent five years at PlayStation leading Sony’s portfolio and content acquisition efforts.
The publication site later iterates that Drake announced his departure on Twitter earlier this month in that last night (July 15th) he revealed his new role of VP of business development and licensing for games at Disney. Additionally, Drake’s responsibility is to “help pair” developers and “publishers” together so that they can make “the best IPs in the world.”
With all of the above said, here is Drake’s first tweet announcing his departure from Sony PlayStation:
End of an era for another PlayStation brother! https://t.co/SaPv0JtxkU
— johntdrake (@johntdrake) July 15, 2019
And here is Drake’s second tweet announcing that he’ll be the VP of Business Development and Licensing for Games at Disney to help make “cool games stuff happen,” which you can check out below:
Here we go, Part 2!
Excited to announce that I've joined the team at Disney as VP of Business Development and Licensing for Games to help pair amazing developers and publishers with the best IP in the world. Still trying to be "that guy making cool games stuff happen!"
— johntdrake (@johntdrake) July 15, 2019
So what does this all mean? Well, it means that Disney is trying to increase its presence in the gaming sphere by utilizing brand names in the publishing and development field to catch the eyes of gamers.
We’ll see how things pan out in the foreseeable future, but gamesindustry.biz notes that Disney could increase its presence in the games industry given that an investor suggests the company might be well served by acquiring Activision Blizzard.
In addition to the above, Disney CEO Bob Iger made mention of the company’s past shortcomings in the video games sphere earlier this year saying the following:
“We haven’t been particularly good at the self-publishing side, but we’ve been great at the licensing side.”
So there you have it, Drake left PlayStation for Disney to help make “cool games” that will likely feature every current year trope.
