© Unsplash/Jose Gil
While Walt Disney Co. is currently experiencing a downturn, marked by strikes and blunders – his boss Bob Iger is looking for a new path to return to growth, and restore its image. Among the problems, there is the TV division, which attracts fewer and fewer subscribers, and which could no longer be “at the heart” of the television industry. of the group's strategy for the future.
But also Disney+ which is in deficit of 2 billion dollars this year, with to make matters worse the drop in its number of subscribers after price increases. In this difficult context for the firm, Bob Iger is forced by a highly strategic approach. After all, Disney was not the Hollywood actor best positioned to successfully transition to streaming, and embrace the changes around the consumption of cultural products to better gain market share on Netflix, between others?
Video games, an essential source of growth for Disney?
The architect of the acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel Entertainment, LucasFilm and 21st Century Fox is therefore looking for the martingale. And this one could well be… the video game. According to Bob Iger's entourage, the latter continues consultations for a possible takeover of Activision-Blizzard – which is looking for a buyer since the failure of the merger project with Microsoft.
According to our colleagues at Les Numériques, EA and Disney are not the first to come together: the two notably worked hand in hand on a Star Wars game. With a foray into video games, Disney could multiply the number of its licenses adapted in this format. With a risk: that of exploiting its franchises too much ends up tiring the public.
The pressure is strong to give this new impetus to Walt Disney Co. However Bob Iger would not have yet taken firm decision and still seems to hesitate. Putting a new activity at the heart of the company is indeed potentially risky – the latter must, however, quickly position itself very clearly due to the acceleration of consolidation in the sector which could possibly make this opportunity disappear.
Since his return to the head of the company in November 2022, the latter has so far failed to stop the spiral into which Walt Disney Co. seems to be drawn. one year on the other the share price has fallen by 9.51% at the time of writing – going from 93.41 dollars at the end of October 2022, to 84.85 dollars at the time of the last Wall Street close.
Can video games establish themselves as THE solution that will enable Disney to return to the green? Share your opinion in the comments to this article.
- Although it has been almost 12 months since Bob Iger was once again named head of Disney, the latter is struggling to reverse several worrying signals
- From the TV division to streaming, Disney is attracting fewer subscribers
- But the firm could seek a lifeline by buying Activision-Blizzard< /li>
[ ]