Disney Wants More Games Like Fallen Order And Spider-Man, Please

Not everything being said at this year's DICE Summit has been controversial. In fact, Sean Shoptaw, Disney's Senior VP Games and Interactive Experiences, took the stage today to put out a call to any and all creatives who want to work on a Disney property.

Specifically, as explained by The Hollywood Reporter, Shoptaw hopes to find people who want to think outside the box and tell more original stories set within the framework of Disney properties. To illustrate the kind of risk-taking he's hoping for with Disney IP, Shoptaw pointed toward last year's Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Marvel's Spider-Man from 2018. Both of those games took long-standing properties with massive fan bases and managed to think outside of the box with them, telling original stories within their respective universes. 

While it's not necessarily a huge gamble trying to sell a game based off of a massive franchise, there's not always a guarantee that the final product will be of decent quality. Both of those games not only sold extremely well, but they were adored by critics. It's plain to see why Disney would hope to recapture some of that success with another franchise in its catalog.

Interestingly, Shoptaw also reminded everyone present of Disney's recent acquisition of 20th Century Fox. The reason this is such a big deal is that Fox brings with it a whole slew of other franchises that are just perfect for a video game adaptation. One of the more prominent examples is the X-Men franchise, which has had a rather spotty track record when it comes to video games (remember X-Men: Destiny?). Another is the Alien series, which has come very close to having some offbeat game installments in the past.

This new initiative seeks to empower game developers to take big swings with some very recognizable characters and settings, and that's a huge deal. So many adaptations try not to rock the boat too hard, so Disney's willingness to try new things is very encouraging, particularly with such a large stable of characters and stories at the company's disposal.

Who knows — maybe we'll finally get that action-RPG based on Rocky Horror Picture Show that we've always wanted.