Disney+, the new subscription streaming service from Disney, will not feature video games. Disney CEO Robert Iger confirmed this during Disney’s investor day briefing, where he stated that Disney’s plan is to only offer television and movie programming on Disney+.
The DisneyLife service in Europe offered video games as part of its overall content package. Iger acknowledged that a big learning from that was people were more interested in TV and movies than video games.
“What we learned there is the consumer is mostly interested in movies and television shows. We wanted this to be a pure movie and television play for the consumer,” Iger said about Disney+. “So we do not have any intention of adding more types of media to [Disney+]. I’m not going to get into the history of video games at the company; every time I mention it I seem to get myself in trouble.”
That last comment is surely a reference to when Iger discussed Disney’s rocky history with internal game development and publishing. That’s why Disney now pursues licensing deals for video games, like the one it has with Electronic Arts.
While Disney+ itself won’t offer games to stream, you’ll be able to use a game console like Xbox One, PS4, or Nintendo Switch to stream the service.
Disney+ launches on November 12 in the United States. It costs $7/month or $70 a year. The service will launch first in the United States, with plans to release in other markets later.
