Disney cuts 700 games at games branch

Disney will cut 700 jobs at its interactive game and website business. That’s a quarter of the workforce in that division. According to a news agency, Disney wants to focus on mobile and ‘social’ games in which important Disney characters play the leading role.

Disney has confirmed the dismissal of the 700 employees to the AP news agency. Games such as Sorority Life and Tap Tap Revenge will be discontinued, the news agency claims. In the future, Disney mainly wants to make games for mobile platforms and social media, in which important Disney characters play the leading role.

Disney Interactive has barely made a profit since 2008; that only happened for three quarters, including the previous quarter. According to Disney, the reorganization is therefore ‘difficult but necessary’. In November, one of the division’s two executives resigned. According to Variety, most layoffs are at Playdom, a social game maker that Disney acquired in 2010 for $563 million.

Disney Interactive is responsible for games such as Epic Mickey, Kingdom Hearts and Star Wars: Battlefront. Most of the division’s games are based on films from Disney or other film companies, but the division also produced original titles.