Disney Interactive is an American video game and internet company that oversaw various websites and interactive media owned by

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

History

1995–1996: Formation and beginnings

In December 1994,

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

announced that it was establishing a new division dedicated to publishing computer and

video game console A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to ...

software, called Disney Interactive. The initial staff consisted of 200 newly hired employees. The company was formally established in mid-1995. On August 23, 1995, Disney Interactive formed Disney Online.

1997–2007: Buena Vista Internet Group

Disney purchased a one-third share of

Starwave Starwave was a Seattle, Washington-based software and website company, founded in 1993 by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and led by CEO Mike Slade. The company produced original CD-ROM titles, including ''Muppets Inside'', and titles for ...

on April 3, 1997, for $100 million. In January 1998, Disney registered

go.com Go.com (also known as The Go Network) is a portal for Disney content that was created after The Walt Disney Company acquired the search engine Infoseek. Go.com is operated by Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, one of four divisions of the ...

. Exercising its options, Disney purchased the outstanding shares of Starwave from

Paul Allen Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American business magnate, computer programmer, researcher, investor, and philanthropist. He co-founded Microsoft Corporation with childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which ...

in April 1998. In June 1998, Disney purchased 43% ownership of

Infoseek Infoseek (also known as the "big yellow") was an American internet search engine founded in 1994 by Steve Kirsch. Infoseek was originally operated by the Infoseek Corporation, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. Infoseek was bought by The Wa ...

in exchange for Starwave and $70 million. Infoseek and Disney Online joint ventured in developing the Go Network, an internet portal. With Disney's purchase of the remainder of Infoseek in July 1999, the Go Network, Infoseek, the Disney Catalog, Disney Online (Disney.com and DisneyStore.com), ABC News Internet Ventures and ESPN Internet Ventures and Buena Vista Internet Group are merged into the Go.com company. In August 1996, BVIG took a controlling in interest in toysmart.com with three directors on the board. Toysmart would be granted marketing support including free advertising on BVIG websites like family.com. After an attempted round of financing, Toysmart.com shut down in May 2000. In June 1999, the Disney Internet Guide is abandoned. The

Go.com Go.com (also known as The Go Network) is a portal for Disney content that was created after The Walt Disney Company acquired the search engine Infoseek. Go.com is operated by Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, one of four divisions of the ...

portal was shut down in 2001 at a cost of $878 million in charges. In 2004, Disney re-activated the Starwave identity as Starwave Mobile, which publishes casual games for mobile phones for non-Disney brands with in Disney conglomerate or from third party. In December 2004 and partnered with

Indiagames UTV Indiagames (formerly known as Indiagames) was a video game publisher across various platforms for the South Asian market. It was founded in 1999 by Vishal Gondal, as a five-member team. UTV Indiagames in its current iteration is solely a p ...

, the Walt Disney Internet Group released Disney games, wallpapers and ringtones in the Indian market which is also available on

AirTel Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as (d/b/a) Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications services company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Current ...

. The group further expanded through purchase of Living Mobile, a European mobile game developer and publisher in November 2005 and Enorbus Technologies in 2007.

2008–2012: Disney Interactive Media Group

On June 5, 2008,

Disney Interactive Studios Disney Interactive Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher owned by The Walt Disney Company through Disney Interactive. Prior to its closure in 2016, it developed and distributed multi-platform video games and interac ...

and the Walt Disney Internet Group merged into a single business unit, now known as the Disney Interactive Media Group."Disney's games and internet divisions merging"
,

Joystiq ''Joystiq'' was a video gaming blog founded in June 2004 as part of the Weblogs, Inc. family of weblogs, now owned by AOL. It was AOL's primary video game blog, with sister blogs dealing with MMORPG gaming in general and the popular MMORPG ''W ...

.com, 2008. In 2009, DIMG's Disney Online unit purchased multiple websites from Kaboose. In July 2010, Disney Interactive purchased

Playdom Playdom was an online social network game developer popular on Facebook, Google+ and Myspace. The company was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area by University of California, Berkeley graduates Ling Xiao and Chris Wang and Swarthmore College g ...

for $563.2 million and

Tapulous Tapulous, Inc. was an American Computer software, software and video game Video game developer, developer and Video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Palo Alto, California. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company as pa ...

for its Mobile division. On July 1, Disney Interactive announced it had acquired

, the studio behind the Tap Tap Revenge franchise for

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

. In October, two co-presidents were named for DIMG, John Pleasants and James Pitaro, with orders to make the company profitable. In January 2011, DIMG closed its

Propaganda Games Propaganda Games was a Canadian video game development studio based in Vancouver, British Columbia, founded by Josh Holmes in 2005, and bought by Disney Interactive Studios, the interactive subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company at the same year. ...

game studio and laid off 200 employees later in the month. The dual presidents placed the game studios of Blackrock, Junction Point, Avalanche, Wideload and Gamestar under its new game development chief Alex Seropian while Penguin creator Lane Merrifield was assigned to game initiatives for kids and families within a new publishing unit to handle marketing and production. On February 18, DIMG purchased

Togetherville Togetherville was a social networking site geared toward youngsters under age 13 years and their family and friends who use the more popular social networking site Facebook. Founded in 2008 by Mandeep Dhillon and Rajveer Tut, Togetherville was r ...

, a pre-teen social network. Also in February, Disney purchased

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

-based Rocket Pack, a game development company with a plugin free game development system. In November, DIMG purchased Babble Media Inc. In April 2012, the Group announced three web series targeted towards mothers: "Moms of", "That's Fresh", and "Thinking Up." By October, DIMG had 15 consecutive quarters of losses totaling some $977 million. Lane Merrifield, the founder of

Club Penguin ''Club Penguin'' was a massively multiplayer online game (MMO), involving a virtual world that contained a range of online games and activities. It was created by New Horizon Interactive (now known as Disney Canada Inc.). Players used cartoon ...

, resigned after conflict with Pleasants. DIMG also in October announced "Toy Box", a cross platform gaming initiative where Pixar and Disney characters will interact from a console game to multiple mobile and online applications.

2012–2018: Disney Interactive

Around May–July 2012, Disney Interactive Media Group changed its name to Disney Interactive (DI). In January 2013, Disney Interactive Games'

Avalanche Software Avalanche Software is an American video game developer based in Salt Lake City, Utah and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. It was founded in October 1995 by four programmers formerly of Sculptured Software, including John ...

unveiled the Toy Box cross platform game as ''

Disney Infinity ''Disney Infinity'' is an action-adventure sandbox toys-to-life video game series developed by Avalanche Software. The setting of the series is a giant customizable universe of imagination, known as the Toy Box, populated with toy versions of i ...

'', based on '' Toy Story 3: The Video Games "Toy Box" mode crossed with a toy line. Also in January, Disney Interactive announced the closure of

Junction Point Studios Junction Point Studios (JPS) was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas founded by ''Deus Ex'' creator, Warren Spector, in 2004. Disney Interactive Studios acquired Junction Point Studios in July 2007 to develop a property based o ...

. In October 2013, Disney announced that its Interactive division had a profit of $16 million for its fourth quarter, based partly on sales of Disney Infinity and uniting both halves of the division under one president.Richwine, Lisa. (November 11, 2013
REFILE-UPDATE 2-Disney games co-president named consultant as unit consolidates

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

. Accessed on November 15, 2013. In March 2014, Disney Interactive announced it was laying off 700 people, or one-fourth of its staff as DI combines its two-game units, mobile and social, due to sagging popularity of

Facebook games Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

, and closing some Disney Online sites. They said will focus less on advertising and more on sponsorships for Disney Online and licensed game development. While some endeavors have shown profitability, such as an app in Japan and the combined game and toy line ''Infinity'', the segment as a whole is unprofitable for Disney. Disney Interactive was merged with

Disney Consumer Products Disney Consumer Products, Inc. is the retailing and licensing subsidiary of the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products segment of The Walt Disney Company. Previously, Consumer Products was a segment of Disney until 2016, then a unit of Disney Co ...

on June 29, 2015, forming a new segment and division known as "Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media", with Disney Interactive as a direct unit. In December 2015,

Maker Studios Maker(s) or The Maker(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''The Maker'' (film), a 1997 American drama film *'' Makers: Women Who Make America'', a 2013 American TV documentary, a 2014 TV series, and related media * Maker Studios, now part of ...

was placed under the control of Disney Interactive with the appointment of Maker's executive vice president Courtney Holt, reporting to Jimmy Pitaro, president of Disney Interactive. With a lack of growth in toy-to-game market and increasing developmental costs, in May 2016, Disney Interactive discontinued ''Disney Infinity'' and closed down the unit that developed ''Infinity'',

. Also, the company ended all self-publishing efforts. A discontinuation charge of $147 million for ending its console gaming business affected earning. In September 2018, Disney confirmed the imminent discontinuation of ''

Club Penguin Island ''Club Penguin Island'' was a massively-multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) and was considered a successor to ''Club Penguin''. The game was released worldwide on March 29, 2017 and was created by Disney Canada Inc. in order to keep ...

'' in a letter sent to its Disney Online Studios team in Kelowna, as well as the layoffs of most employees in said studio. In November 2018, Disney agreed to have Jam City take over operation of its Glendale-based

, sell them ''Emoji Blitz'' and development of future Pixar and Walt Disney Animation franchises games. Staff at the studio would be offered jobs with Jam City working on the Disney titles.

Units

*Rocket Pack *Gamestar *Disney Online Studios *Disney Online * Disney Mobile *

Disney Digital Network Disney Digital Network is an American multi-channel network located in Culver City, California. It was originally the successor to Maker Studios, co-founded by Lisa Donovan, Danny Zappin, Scott Katz, Kassem Gharaibeh, Shay Carl, Rawn Erickson ...

(formerly Maker Studios), multi-network content for YouTube.

Disney Online

Disney Online is a division of Disney Interactive that operates most of Disney online portfolio. On August 23, 1995, Disney Interactive formed Disney Online unit with the naming of

Jake Winebaum Jake Winebaum (born 1959) is an American entrepreneur. Winebaum is the founder of FamilyFun magazine, Business.com, Brighter.com and co-founder of eCompanies and Applied Cognition. Early life Winebaum’s father, Sumner, was an advertising ...

as president of Disney Online. On November 19, 1996, the opening of DisneyStore.com was open under Disney Online business unit. The family.com website is launched on December 9, 1996. Disney announced on April 18, 1997 that it will purchase

's Family Planet Web site and merge it with Family.com. Source: CNet News.com, https://archive.today/20130102120941/http://www.news.cnet.com/ The Disney Daily Blast (dailyblast.com) web site is official launched on April 23 under a subscription plan and daily content targeted to younger viewers with Microsoft Network marketing and distributing for an exclusive 10-month period. In July 1998, Disney Online announced dig.com, Disney Internet Guide, a child friendly web directory which launched in June 1998 and closed one year later in June to focus on

/ Go Network. In late 2007, DIMG purchased IParenting Media's websites. Disney sold movies.com to

Fandango Fandango is a lively partner dance originating from Portugal and Spain, usually in triple meter, traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets, or hand-clapping. Fandango can both be sung and danced. Sung fandango is usually bipartite: it has ...

in June 2008. Disney Online purchased in 2008 Take 180 from Chris Williams, who stays on until April 2012 as vice president and general manager of Disney Online Originals, which has Take 180 as creative hub. In 2009, DIMG's Disney Online unit purchased from Kaboose multiple websites including: Kaboose.com, Babyzone.com, AmazingMoms.com, Funschool.com and Zeeks.com, and place them into its Disney Family Network. Disney.com purchased Kerpoof in February 2009. In November 2011, DIMG purchased Babble Media Inc. to add it to the Mom and Family Portfolio. In March 2014, Disney Interactive announced it was laying off 700 people, or one-fourth of its staff as DI closed smaller Disney Online sites including BabyZone.com and Spoonful.com. They said will focus less on advertising and more on sponsorships for Disney Online to fit the experience Disney wishes to offer.

Online units

disney.com disney.com is a website operated by Disney Digital Network, a division of The Walt Disney Company, that promotes various Disney properties such as films, television shows, and theme park resorts, and offers entertainment content intended for child ...

*Disney Family Network websites - also called Mom and Family Portfolio **Family.Disney.com **

Babble.com ''Babble'' was an online magazine and blog network targeting young, educated, urban parents. Their site operated a large network of parent blogs, employing many bloggers on the subjects of parenting and child-raising. In early 2019, it was announ ...

, mother bloggers site *DigiSynd, social media marketing