Disney Interactive Media Group

Disney Interactive Media Group
Type Subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company
Industry Video game industry
Founded 2008
Headquarters Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
Key people John Pleasants, Co-President
James Pitaro, Co-President
Products Video games
Owner(s) The Walt Disney Company
Divisions Disney Interactive Studios
Disney Online
Disney Mobile
Playdom
Website The Walt Disney Company's website

The Disney Interactive Media Group (DIMG, pronounced DIMM-GEE), formerly known as the Walt Disney Internet Group and Disney Interactive Studios, oversees various websites and interactive media owned by The Walt Disney Company and its subsidiaries.[1]

The division's Disney Online unit operates disney.com, which promotes the Disney theme parks and offers entertainment content intended for children. It also maintains an online presence for Disney's retail operations and it offers wireless phone and data services tailored to families. In addition, DIMG provides technical services for the ABC network, ABC.com and ABCNEWS.com, as well as sports site ESPN.com, and DIMG distributes content to mobile-device users.

The Disney Interactive Media Group generates revenue mainly through advertising sales, sponsorships, subscriptions, and video game sales.

History

The company Starwave merged with Infoseek and was later sold to The Walt Disney company in 1998. The new entity, Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG) developed the Go.com portal. In 2004, Disney re-activated the Starwave identity as Starwave Mobile, which publishes casual games for mobile phones. On June 5, 2008, Disney Interactive Studios and the Walt Disney Internet Group, merged into a single business unit now known as the Disney Interactive Media Group.[2][3]

Websites

Disney.com

The latest iteration of Disney.com was launched in February 2007 by DIMG. [4][not in citation given]

Divisions

DIMG is separated into five divisions.

Disney Interactive Studios offers games based on Disney franchises and new properties, across multiple video game platforms. Previous titles include Pure, SplitSecond and Epic Mickey. Disney Interactive Studios produces console and handheld video games for the Nintendo Wii™, Nintendo DS™, PlayStation®Portable, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment systems, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and the personal computer.

Disney Online Studios produces immersive, online virtual worlds such as Disney Club Penguin, and the World of Cars Online, based on the Disney*Pixar franchise.

Disney Mobile. Through the Tapulous and Disney brands, Disney Mobile offers mobile entertainment content, including music-based games, casual games, franchise apps, digicomics, and informational apps. Disney Mobile titles include Where's My Water? and the Tap Tap franchise.

Disney Online is the Disney online and mobile web gateway. Disney Online offers access to Disney movies, television, games, music, travel, shopping and live events.

Playdom produces a portfolio of casual games for social networks such as Facebook and MySpace.

References

  1. ^ "Disney Interactive Media Group Profile" (overview), 2006. Yahoo! Finance
  2. ^ Joystiq.com, "Disney's games and internet divisions merging", 2008. Joystiq
  3. ^ TechCrunch.com
  4. ^ "Disney Online Fact Sheet", 2007. Disney.go.com

Coordinates: 34°09′52″N 118°22′30″W / 34.16444°N 118.375°W / 34.16444; -118.375